


Sail

by LumpOfCheese



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Space, Eventual Romance, Fantasy, M/M, Romance, Space Pirates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 04:51:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 67,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17338925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LumpOfCheese/pseuds/LumpOfCheese
Summary: It all starts when Captain Byun - "fucking" - Baekhyun, pirating extraordinaire, kidnaps the wrong man.Actually, it had started long before that, gotten lost and entangled somewhere within the darkest corners of his messy life.But Baekhyun doesn't truly start living until he meets Chanyeol, so it hardly really counts.





	1. Chapter 1

Floating somewhere within the midst of the abyss they call space - an all but empty void where time and life cease to have meaning - lives a single ship that thrives amongst its surroundings of dull space matter. She whirrs with life despite the bleak backdrop, housing a spectrum of men coming from near and far, feeding them with gifts of precious oxygen that circulates through Her vents. She thrums with electricity, uses it to light up the corridors where men gather and bathes them in bright, fluorescent light. They buzz within her, rowdy cackling mingling with hum of meaningless chatter and the clatter of loaded guns ricochet off Her walls, causing them to vibrate with the heavy echoes of noise that electrifies the air - cuts through the rippling excitement that pulsates off of each body. The atmosphere is damp with their delirium, dripping with adrenaline.

It's always like this before a raid.

Black leather combat boots slide soundlessly across a pristine marble floor: the perfect example of silent stealth. Pale skin wrapped around a tortured soul is a faultless contrast to the black hair, black eyes and black clothes that accompany it, though those shades of darkness are nothing compared to the inky hues that stain his heart, dark as the void itself. Captain Byun Baekhyun is the perfect embodiment of space.

The dull tremors of energy coursing through his ship syncs with the throbbing of the captain's own temples. Slender fingers massage tender circles into the area in an attempt to soothe the aching to no avail. He should be used to the commotion by now, he supposes, but after spending most of the day in nothing but the silence of his own companionship, sound of any sort has become a foreign sentiment. With a haggard sigh, he comes to a halt in front of his slipshod crew, dressed uniformly with eyes set in congruent determination and shining artillery that heavily decorate their bodies, all carrying the metallic cologne of blood lust.

"Quiet," he demands, instantly hushing every being . At the sound of his clipped command, a dozen or so men of different shapes and sizes and colours and backgrounds all fall into single file before their captain, on auto pilot as they move without even a second's delay. Baekhyun, with his soft features contorted into a grave expression of danger, stares each of his men hard in the eye. "We are nearing Earth now, so everyone be ready at your stations."

A smirk slowly spreads across the man's face, handsomeness shadowed by insanity. His dark, feline eyes glint with an ethereal hunger for vengeance.

"Captain Park won't even know what hit him."


	2. I

He's a spider in black. Clad in the colour that drips from the curves of his body like an engulfing shadow. Pores exuding the silent glimmer of danger sourced from his blackened soul. His smokey, kohl rimmed eyes scope out the endless stretch of darkness that lies ahead, beyond a barrier of thick glass. The Captain's gaze - that no one would dare desire being on the receiving end of - is sly and harsh, sharp and devious as it snakes between dull floating chunks of space matter to lock onto his target, contemplating all the ways he could crush it.

Plush lips are pulled into a razor thin line, pink fading into white against the cracks of chapped skin, pierced by a single diamond studded hoop, in a painful gradient. The accessory is linked to a shining silver chain that hangs loosely from the leather collar adorned around it's owner's slender neck whilst another length of interlocking chains dangle from the top of his right ear to the bottom. He wears it as a symbol of irony. A show of mockery. Collars, on many planets throughout the cosmos, are usually found around the necks of pets, bestowed upon them by their masters as a show of ownership, a way to stake a claim on what's theirs. But Byun Baekhyun is nobody's property, so screw that.

The iron chains draped over his lithe frame scream danger yet the opaque band of colour wrapped around his throat stands as a stark contrast to the near translucency of his skin, making him look sickly. Fragile almost. But the Captain is neither of those things. The Captain is soft lines forced into sharp hisses, he is glowing white light engulfed by bitter darkness, he is midnight eyes seeing nothing but red. He is flawed, ethereal beauty. Unattainable. Unfathomable.

Their destination is a little planet known as Earth. A measly old thing - particularly boring when compared to the likes of Venus or Mars or any other globe in the galaxy. Earth is known through the cosmos for being significantly behind in terms of technology - unlike Technos, an ecosystem that literally thrums with the use of electricity - while the human race itself is particularly infamous for their defining characteristics of bigotry and selfishness. The wretched creatures start wars between each other over land and currency and a God with no proper name whilst simultaneously wiping out their own blessed stores of natural resources - effectively killing their own planet slowly from the inside out with every pile of coal burnt.

But don't get Baekhyun wrong. He and his fellow pirates - innocent travellers, they prefer, though the intergalactic media could care less - aren't a bunch of aliens looking to take over another planet to obtain more space for their own species to run around in. God no. That had already been done over a decade ago.

'The Invasions,' the humans call it whenever they recount the events to younger generations in homes and schools, their species growing progressively dumber and dumber with every new child that pops out another womb. It was the first time extraterrestrials had made themselves known to the population of the isolated planet Earth after millenniums of hiding in the surrounding universe's shadows. They hadn't even seen them coming.

The puny humans hadn't put up much of a fight back then, not that they could have against their new - literally - alien enemies. They eventually had no choice but to the surrender to the attacking forces. The foreign invaders offered them massive advancements in their technology and way of life, leading to a sort of begrudged truce to form between the two species, however it had quickly become apparent that not even the help from the foreign conquerors could steer the humans away from their inevitable path of self inflicted extinction and the aliens soon deserted the planet, knowing it was hopeless to try and preserve it. Earth was beyond saving. Many humans had cheered when the invaders left, little did they know that they were the ones who had lost the battle.

Needless to say, another pointless invasion was not what Baekhyun is looking for.

Baekhyun himself was once a member of the human society. He remembers his past life on Earth with mild disdain and potent distaste. Nowadays he likes to think of himself as a wanderer, one without a true home. Not anymore. Not after it had been ripped so cruelly from his grasp all because of one man's selfishness. As much as Baekhyun would love to wreck havoc upon Earth, perform his revenge on the planet that had once been so hostile to him despite being the place of his birth, he has bigger fish to fry. One person's neck in particular that he'd like to feel scrape against the blade of his sword. The person whom he has vowed to hunt down even if he has to scour the entire galaxy in order to find him.

"How much longer 'til we give up on this search," his right hand man Kyungsoo sighs from his perch, sat by the ship's control panel with his plump cheeks, doe eyes and pretty lips settled into an unimpressed expression. "It's been years, Baekhyun, maybe we should give it a rest now." The addressed doesn't even bother to spare him a glance though the muscle that jumps in his cheek out of irritation doesn't go unnoticed by his companion.

"My quest for vengeance has no rest," the elder of the two all but snarls out, handsome features shifting dangerously into a demonic scowl. They've had this conversation one too many times before. An aura as dark as the colour of space radiates from Baekhyun's body in sweltering heat waves. Suddenly he looks to have aged several years in Kyungsoo's eyes.

Said eyes that begin rolling around in their sockets.

While Captain Byun may be the leader of the most feared pirate ship in all the galaxy, the antagonist of hushed stories told to skittish children at night and the owner of the head intergalactic authorities would exchange billions of ducats for, there will always be one person with enough gall to defy and question him whilst miraculously keeping his head attached to the rest of his body. That person is none other than Do Kyungsoo.

"Way to hold a grudge, Baek." Baekhyun is thankful no one else is in the room to witness Kyungsoo's defiant manner of talking to him or else his reputation would definitely take a swirl down the drain. He forces himself to count to 10, his blood beginning to boil. He takes in and releases slow drags of filtered air in an attempt to try and quell the scalding irritation that spreads through him. It is not as effective a method as he'd hoped it would be. It never is.

"I could have you walk the fucking plank. Shut your mouth and just fly this damn ship." The Captain's voice is cold and clipped, the signature authoritative tone injected into it a product of many years of practice. It's almost like second nature for him to attach it to his tongue now. But Kyungsoo knows better. This isn't his Baekhyun. This is someone else with an identical appearance, only this double - this imposter - lives with a blackened and charred heart laying idle within his chest.

With a tired shake of his head, Kyungsoo steps on the accelerator pedal until it lays flat against the floor. Just to get it all over and done with. A few startled cries can be heard from outside the control room at the sudden jolting of the ship as it begins to zoom through the abyss, pirates stumbling left and right as the ground beneath their feet shifts.

Baekhyun, however, doesn't even flinch.

//

Happiness, freedom, adventure. These were the emotions Baekhyun had once associated with the high seven seas. There was always a new horizon to discover back then when he was just a little boy, living a different life, his eyes filled to the brim with wanderlust. Back when he had dreamed of becoming an explorer, of sleeping under a new collection of constellations each night, of maybe discovering new uncharted lands and creating his own little universe. Back when the salty sea breeze and the steady rocking of the ship were two of his most favourite-est things in the world and the promise of a new adventure would be his only comfort through endless storms and relentless starvation.

His father had been offered a job onboard a royal British navy ship, picked amongst thousands to work under the prestigious Captain Park. A man of great reputation and wealth, a man people could only dream to become acquainted with. He was only there to mop the man's floors and carry his belongings but Baekhyun and his father had both been excited for the new opportunity nonetheless, they would've jumped at any chance they could've got to leave their problems back on land behind. The picture of metal mouled into pure, staggering beauty - about 10 times as large as he'd been - is still engraved into Baekhyun's mind to this very day, the graceful curve of a silver bow slightly tinged with the yellowing colour of aged memories. 'The Merida' was ingrained lavishly along the side of the ship. The words are replicated in ugly jagged scratches across his heart.

His time on the ship itself was precious to him - a sacred part of his history - however the memories he'd made there were not as cherished. The faint yet cheerful 'yo ho ho' of his father still rings from somewhere in the deepest pits of his recollections but the yellings, the beatings, the sneers aimed in his direction by those in higher positions cloud over and mute even the brightest of sea shanties. His father always had a smile on his face despite it all, always told him to dream, to hope, to have a thirst to explore and promised him that one day they were going to make enough money somehow to buy a boat of their own, travel the seas just the two of them.

These memories are faded and dripping with the blood of a thousand broken promises.

( A golden telescope is all he has left to remember his father by, It had been acquired through blood, sweat and tears exchanged into every penny he'd ever earned. An intricate B was expertly carved along the shaft, twisting and curling and spiralling out around the edges in swift strokes. "It's all yours," his father had said on his 12th birthday. And it had become Baekhyun's lifeline when things started to fall apart shortly after. )

The attack came suddenly. Explosives cannon balled down at them through the clouds in the middle of the day. These enemies were unknown to them, unlike anything they'd ever seen before and not human. Bone crushing fear, scrambling to grab onto his father's hand, praying to every deity he could recall. This is how Baekhyun remembers his first encounter with extraterrestrials. He remembers The Merdia's Captain Park, the man known for his bravery, for his wealth, for his abuse on those he deemed inferior, begging on his knees for mercy and offering to trade his entire crew in order for him and his own son to go free. Words said without a moment's hesitation but there was no uncertainty in his eyes. And then Baekhyun remembers dark nights, a fire raging in his heart and his father's icy, ashen hand clutching onto his as he breathed his last on a foreign planet.

It is around here that he chooses to stop remembering.

Pain, fire, anguish. A need for vengeance. These are the things Baekhyun associates with his past. His soul aches to track down the one who created the bitter blight across his treasured memories. His fingers itch with the urge to return the pain he has suffered tenfold. 

( "Touchdown, Captain," Kyungsoo's voice pulls him out of his thoughts with a jolt. Blinking rapidly in order to bring himself back to reality, Baekhyun takes a moment to drink in his surroundings. They are no longer encompassed in the pitch black of space, but under the bright burning sun and sailing along a blue horizon. The familiar rocking of steady azure waves beneath their feet is nothing but soothing and Baekhyun has never felt more at home. At last. )

//

The Exodus is Baekhyun's baby. He'd somehow been able to build himself a new life on the planet of Technos from the rubble upwards not long after escaping from years of imprisonment and had spent several long, grueling years working multiple jobs in order to garner enough money to build Her. Some jobs less respectable than others. With determination in his heart and stacks of golden nuggets in his bank, he'd managed to find a run down garage that was willing to help him out. Kyungsoo was the son and - therefore - the apprentice of the local mechanic and with a smile, he'd shaken Baekhyun's hand and offered his service free of charge.

( "You seem like you have a story to tell. You don't just get resolve like that poofing out of thin air." )

She was built out of pure, shining aluminum, elegantly moulded by the skilled hands of Kyungsoo - and Baekhyun who had just fumbled along. Forgoing the usual round, flat disc shape that standard spaceships were modelled after, he'd created his ship with sloping starboard curves that veered up into the deathly sharp point of a bow, long spirals of twisted metal that spiked up into unmovable, towering masts and thin sheets of melted metal that curved into impenetrably perfect sails. It was the exact replica of the Merida and yet so much more. It was the ship of nightmares. Dangerous, dark, with every angle sharp enough to effortlessly pierce through your body. Designed after a regular navy ship yet possessing all the modifications of a space vessel, created to carry its men through wind, fire, earth and rain; born to drift beyond the bleak entity of space yet also glide beautifully across the oceans of the universe. Bulletproof, collision proof, with an interior that was ultimately bigger than the exterior would give away, the ship of Baekhyun's memories had been recreated and upgraded into his own work of art.

If only his father could see him now.

//

"Ready the guns," Baekhyun commands, all but snarling into his communicator earpiece. The harsh edges of his voice are coated with the sea breeze, blown across the main deck to the ears of the men who stand in perfect formation behind him: all on edge, all on their best behaviour. They did not want to risk him turning such a tone on any of them. The captain's crew are all dressed in loose white shirts and slacks - for ease of movement - and wear the identical war paint of steel hard focus across their features as they clutch onto their rifles while others wait below deck in the main control room, anticipating their Captain's commands.

Baekhyun looks out across the stretch of calm sea, eyes settling on the twin floating vessel opposite the Exodus; the Merida. Of course, the old git wouldn't have changed his ship, he thinks, one corner of his lip curling upwards into a malignant smirk.

Ever since the day the Exodus had finally become functional, Baekhyun had never taken a day off searching the galaxy for the man who was once his Captain - raided thousands of passerby ships, scoured planets and emptied out houses - after hearing the news that the ship of his past was no longer in use and realising his mission would not be as straightforward as he'd hoped. As soon as he'd detected the rippling rumours of the vessel setting sail again, he knew he had to track it down. He knew he'd be on it: exactly where Baekhyun had last left him.

The Captain fights off the crashing wave of nostalgia that accompanies the view of the vessel before him. She still looks exactly as he remembers, even better now that Her image is no longer dripping with blood and grime around the edges. She also looks exactly like the Exodus. The two ships are cognate but the Exodus is more advanced, more sturdy, more enduring, encompassing more of Baekhyun's own resilient character. The Merida would sink in a second flat.

With one hand clutching onto a gleaming golden telescope and a heinous smirk sitting all wrong on his soft features, the Captain shoots his crew a look of pure vehemence that takes them aback before parting his lips to speak.

"Fire." 

And all hell breaks loose.

//

It's between fighting off a sailor attired in the rich blue colour of the royal navy and hissing into his communicator earpiece - "Kyungsoo, where the fuck are those canons!" - that Baekhyun realises he has yet to see his prey scampering around. His eyes scan the main deck of the Merida, having swung over onto the old ship on a length of sturdy rope true pirate style - though he could easily have taken the galactic transporter like everyone else. The long sword held in his vice like grip continues to jab at his current opponent, on autopilot as he focuses on more important things. The rest of his team is currently busy ransacking every room on the ship while ignoring the onslaught of ballsy marines that attempt to 'fight back' against them. His men never make the first move. They're just here to get their desired cargo and go.

Quickly growing tired of the endless joust he's engaging in, Baekhyun aims a perfectly timed kick to his adversary's stomach. He's rewarded with a strangled sound as the sailor topples onto the ground in a heap.

"Where is he," Baekhyun growls out, breath coming out jagged and rough, neck muscles constricting against his choker - more out of anger than any kind of physical exhaustion. Eagle eyes scour the deck again - scanning, searching, seeking - before they zoom back down onto the fallen crew member, a foot firmly placed on his chest to keep him locked in his place beneath Baekhyun. The man shakes under his malignant gaze.

Baekhyun swiftly presses the edge of his sword against his victim's windpipe as hard as he can without drawing any blood, fiery flames flickering deep within his dark orbs. "Your Captain. Captain Park. Where is he?"

"P-please don't hurt me"

His eyes roll heavenwards before he forces his expression to soften slightly, if only to calm down the marine in front of him. They're less compliant when they're frightened. "It's not you I want. We're here for your Captain and no one else. You and the rest of your crew won't be harmed." Baekhyun thinks it's absurd really, how this man is so scared of him, how the Merida's entire crew are running around and waving their guns at his men who aren't really in their way at all. In fact, Baekhyun was doing them all a favour, freeing them from working under the clutches of such an evil creature.

"Captain!" Jongdae's voice booms from the other side of the deck, cutting through the chaos like his bloody knife had cut through flesh earlier. It is clutched by his side, stained crimson with a pool of coloured pain dripping from the tip and staining the deck. Sometimes it is necessary to resort to violence. "We have Captain Park! Kyungsoo's teleporting him back onto the Exodus right now!"

"So quickly?" Baekhyun questions with a cocked eyebrow, suddenly feeling numb. "Old man must be losing his touch."

The Captain of the Exodus turns away from Jongdae when the male starts saying something that sounds a lot like, 'he handed himself over in exchange for the safety of his crew' because it was complete and utter bullshit. The wretched man would never do such a thing.

Baekhyun turns his attention to the sailor trembling beneath him and fists fair fingers into the navy blue of his uniform. "I guess, we'll have to cut this little first meeting short. Lovely meeting you, though," and without another second's delay he lets go of the man, sending him reeling backwards to crash his skull painfully against the ground. 

"Kyungsoo, beam me up," he orders into his headpiece, eyes resembling hard stone as he quickly crosses the main deck, strides powerful, fast and determined. The Merida's crew stand down, unwilling to make a move against him. Oh, so lost without their Captain. They don't bother Baekhyun and the latter is thankful for their cowardice because he had really been hoping to get through this raid without having to kill anyone.

He watches with mild pride bulging in his chest now as the Exodus hums to life, foot tapping impatiently against the deck whilst watching his baby float upwards into the sky, proceeding to hover directly above him. A circular entrance in the bottom of the ship whirrs open before a beam of light is cast over Baekhyun, cancelling out the gravity around him and extracting him upwards to the ship. He sneers down at the ship he once called home and readies himself to meet his destiny.

//

"What the fuck is this?" Baekhyun all but roars at his crew members, face contorted into a vision of complete and utter seething. He looks animalistic with the way there is nothing but rage infiltrating the black of his irises, spreading through his orbs like the scorching darkness of his aura. Clutched in his vice-like grip is a tattered woven bag, freshly ripped off the once covered head of his hostage - Captain Park. Baekhyun had been dreaming of the day he'd have the foul man knelt in front of him, had been planning all the most painful ways he could draw out the man's death ever since he'd escaped from rotten space prison. And not too long ago - merely seconds before this very moment - he'd thought he'd finally be able to revel in the glory of enacting his revenge. He'd thought he could finally put an end to his suffering. Seems like his plans would have to be put on hold. Again.

"Who is this man?" he demands an answer from his crew who exchange confused looks. Fisting his lithe fingers into a birds nest of fiery red hair, Baekhyun's subordinates all wince at the sharp hiss Captain Park lets out as their Captain tugs harshly on the strands, forcefully angling his captive's face upwards and displaying it to his crew. They watch as his youthful features twist in pain. 

"Captain Park," Jongdae decrees, loud and clear though he has never seen his Captain's face so dark. He struggles to keep his voice and steeled over expression from faltering at the sight of him. "From the Merida."

Baekhyun thinks in his head that, yes that may be the case, but this Captain Park of the Merida is not the one he's after. Glaring down at the man who kneels by his feet and taking in the pair of large doe eyes set against milky white skin - brimming with a cocktail of fear and mild confusion - Baekhyun knows without a doubt that this is the wrong Captain Park.

Closing his eyes with a short exhale, the raven haired man attempts to control the frustration boiling inside of him - focuses on counting to ten, tries to steady his ragged breathing. He promptly snaps his eyes open again after continuing to see nothing but red from behind closed eyelids, his gaze now razor sharp as it settles on each one of his crew members in turn. He is no calmer.

"No matter who this man claims to be, or whichever ship he claims to own, this is not the Captain Park I remember. No, the Captain Park from my fucking nightmares is shorter and uglier and fucking twice this one's age." Finally relinquishing his trembling hold on his hostage's hair, he shoves the man onto the ground in exasperation before beginning to pace slow vulture like circles around his prey, his thunderous footsteps echoing around still quietness. Slender fingers massage temples that throb in time with the blazing anger coursing through his veins. "He isn't the one I'm looking for." His voice is low and level and quiet, but it's by far the most menacing he has ever been.

The root of his anger doesn't lie with his crew. It's a fact they are well aware of. When the Captain is agitated by something, he has a tendency to lash out at anything and everything around him, regardless whether they are deserving of suffering under his wrath or not. This time, the Captain is merely baring his teeth because this is one of the many attempts he's made so far in attempt to catch the bastard Park and yet, somehow, the devil just keeps slipping through his fingers. The knowledge of this, however, does little to comfort his intimidated crew.

"Where is that oaf hiding-"

"Excuse me," a new voice speaks up for the first time, "but you wouldn't be talking about my father per chance, would you?" The fiery haired man's voice is deeper than his face would give away, rough and shaky around the edges from pain and fear. He rubs gingerly at the bump forming underneath his bushy hair from where he'd made contact with the floor. It had caused an unsurprisingly hollow sound.

Finally, Baekhyun's ever present frown melts away and his eyebrows quirk out of interest. His heart is pounding when he next addresses the male. "You father is Captain Park of the Merida?" All other thoughts are flung to the backs of his mind in order to make way for the memories that come reeling in. He thinks back to the small, chubby boy around his age, the one that had always trailed behind the Captain of Baekhyun's nightmares, hiding behind him like he were some kind of shield, the one who'd always stay glued to the side of the ship, plump fingers clinging on for dear life. Big eyes, big ears, bright smile; but he was his father's son and Baekhyun had hated him to the core.

With his recollections comes a familiar feeling that settles itself in the pit of his stomach. Burning. Churning. His heart squeezes harder and harder in disgust the longer he keeps his eyes on - Chanyoung? Hanyeol? Whatever his name was, it wasn't important right now. Baekhyun wonders how the seasick fool managed to become a Captain of all things.

Well, he always had wanted to please his daddy back then, no doubt that had something to do with it.

"My name is Park Chanyeol." Ah that was it. "I am the current Captain of the Merida. What is your business with my father?" As he introduces himself, he slowly steadies himself onto his feet, dusting off his uniform of royal blue adorned with the sparkling golden accents only a Captain could acquire. A few of Baekhyun's men bristle, muscles readying themselves at Chanyeol's movements, hands instantly reaching for the clubs and guns decorating their waists. They quickly fall back into line when their Captain holds up a hand, silently ordering their idleness.

Chanyeol's gaze is hard and prideful despite the situation he's become wrapped up in, despite the anxiety coiling in his gut. Baekhyun, when he turns to face the taller sailor, finds himself entertaining the idea of wrapping his hands around his neck and draining that look right out of him. He tucks that thought away for later. 

"Ah, yes. Park Chanyeol. I remember you." The name still flows so perfectly off of Baekhyun's tongue when he finally spits it out but it leaves a bitter aftertaste that lingers in the back of his throat a second too long for his liking. Chanyeol's eyebrows furrow together and his large eyes peer down at him, melding into an expression of curiosity and confusion that Baekhyun so badly wants to scrape off his face.

The hostage's lips part to formulate something no doubt pretentious and enraging but the shorter cuts him off before he can articulate any of the many thoughts whizzing around in his head, gaze raking down the length of his body before sliding back up to lock onto a pair of bewildered, round orbs. Baekhyun's own eyes have a tenebrosity lurking within them that screams trouble. Chanyeol has to stop himself from looking away.

"Lock him up. But make sure he's in one piece. I don't want a single scratch on him."

As soon as his commands infiltrate the space surrounding them, two men appear out of thin air to grab onto either of Chanyeol's arms, their fingers strong around the tall boy's limbs. He makes no move to try and escape from their hold, frozen still by the smirk gracing his captor's lips. 

It's a sight that's burned into the back of his eyelids, lingering in the back of his mind even after he's tossed into a dark, cold cell deep in the heart of the ship. Smoky kohl rimmed eyes glow red in the darkness. A sharp, hissing voice ghosts by his ears.

"His father will pay a high price for his safety. He has once. And he will again."


	3. II

Rays of harsh, fluorescent light stream in via the small window of his dingy cell door: his only connection to the outside world. Chanyeol laments over how he would rather have the feeling of soft, natural sunlight kissing his skin than this scalding artificial brightness. He longs for the sun, he longs for his ship, for the dewy Autumn breeze to sweep its tender fingers through the flaming locks of his hair. Longs for freedom. But most of all, he longs for answers.

The first few hours of him being locked up in this cramped space, barely large enough in width for him to stretch out his legs, consisted of him raging and pounding against the metal door that sealed him away from his beloved freedom. He'd fought until he was drained and shouted until his voice was hoarse but his captors had turned a blind eye and Chanyeol's threats of, "just wait 'til I get my lawyer on you," were more acknowledged by the walls themselves than anyone of importance.

There are a few dents sunken into the metal frame, pinpointing where bony, too tightly clenched fists had struck down against the barrier, dark patches of blood left to dry not much further off. He lets a smug smile stretch across his dry lips as he looks at them now, a new feeling of pride surging through his chest. The indentations act as a subtle form of rebellion for the ever pristine Captain Park.

He had quickly become idle, however, once the guards outside had informed him of how displeased their Captain would be if he became aware of the damage made upon his ship. His feeble "to hell with him!" held no bite and was met with snickers from the people on the other side of the door. He can't help it. Whenever he thinks of the rage that had marred the man's otherwise handsome face - the image of soft beauty encased in leather and chains left to linger and seep into the deepest corners of his mind - he can't help but feel completely powerless. It is not a feeling he is well aquainted with which only makes him all the more restless.

"What is going on?" Chanyeol sighs and drops his head back against the wall with a quiet thud. It drowns out the sound of movement from outside. His accommodation is at least better than the dark, damp dungeons he himself has locked people in before, he'll give them that. With heavy eyelids, he stares at the immaculately made bed opposite from him. He hasn't touched it yet, unable to sleep a wink. It would feel too much like giving in.

"How's the prisoner?" a bored voice from outside catches his attention, clearly not interested in Chanyeol's wellbeing at all. The mentioned prisoner's ears perk up but he takes to busying himself with innocently picking at the scabs forming over his grimy knuckles, eyes forward yet ears open because eavesdropping is not a very noble thing to do. He frowns when his wounds reopen.

Quiet shuffling and the jingling of keys can be detected through the paper thin doors.

( If only the doors were as easy to knock down as paper, Chanyeol bemoans in his head. )

"He's fine. Quietened down now, thank the Cosmos. Rowdy one, he is."

Rude. Well, what else is he to expect from a bunch of no-good pirates that whizz around abducting good, honest people from their ships willy nilly? He hopes at least that his own crew got to safety and have alerted the authorities of his capture. Help was surely on its way.

"Well, let's pray he hasn't curled up into a ball and died."

Chanyeol looks up with narrowed eyes to see a pair of owlish orbs peeking down at him through the glass. They look so non-threatening that he almost forgets to put his guard up. "Come on, sailor. Get up. Captain wants you to join him for dinner." The owner of the monotonous voice knocks loudly against the door, the vibrations of bone clanging against metal a familiar sound.

It's about time the Captain has made some contact with me, the red head wants to grumble as the door swings open and two men hoist him up onto his feet. The fiery haired male does not think it's too nice of someone to lock up the man they'd accidentally kidnapped for a few days without relaying any news of what's to happen to him, thinks it's quite cruel actually. This is not to mention the fact that the Captain hadn't even come down himself to formally invite him to dine together and instead sent his goons to drag him over.

Well, a nice person wouldn't lock anyone up at all, so he rests his case. From what he'd deduced from their first meeting - the bump resting beneath a bird's nest of hair serving as a painful reminder of their previous encounter - his captor isn't nice, to say the least.

Chanyeol finds himself once again held captive - quite literally this time - by two men, one of whom he remembers seeing the first time he'd been brought onto the pirate ship. He has cheekbones sharper than Chanyeol's own wit - which is sharp, mind you - and a strong grip on his upper arm while the other limb is held tight by a man blessed with softer features, a high forehead and slicked back ebony hair. The third figure, owner of the round pair of eyes that had peered down at him earlier, attempts to fix his full lips into something resembling a smile before he turns to face him.

"Captain Park Chanyeol, my name is Kyungsoo. I apologise if you've been having any unpleasant experiences aboard the Exodus thus far, we don't usually have many guests. Perhaps you can give us some feedback on how we are performing as hosts over dinner?" he says, round face tilted to the side with a courteous expression masking what can only be hostile and derisive intentions. Even the low bow he stoops into irks Chanyeol to no end. As the - snickering - men by the hostage's side start to lead him away from his holding cell, he decides he does not like the short, raven haired man one bit.

The captive remains decisively silent as he is hauled up a flight of stairs - away from the lower deck where he'd been kept along with piles of rotting food and emptied alcohol barrels - and puffs out his chest, resolutely keeping his head held high despite his current disheveled state. He can't deny that the wrinkles plaguing the fabric of his uniform make his fingers itch for a steam iron, being a man who believes in looking presentable at all times, however his ego is bruising at a considerably fast pace so he is forced to grit his teeth and soldier on. He's determined to show these ill-mannered hooligans that even with his shirt half tucked into his pants, he is still every bit a regal gentleman. A man of his dignified upbringing does not take well to such mockery, thus certainly will not be wasting his breath on speaking to uncivilised, impertinent pirates.

"Not got much to say anymore, do you Mr. Bigshot Captain? What's wrong? Cat got your tongue, tough man?" Cheekbones coos at him, voice thickly dripping with scorn. The navy Captain merely side-eyes him.

This is clearly not the reaction the miscreant was aiming for so he does what all other bullies do when left unsatisfied. He jabs again. Harder this time. "Or perhaps, you don't want to associate yourself with people of such low class like us?" The voice is now nothing but cold ice biting at his ear, laced with a resentment sourced only by the assumptions he has made for himself.

It seems the Exodus' Captain and his men all have something in common: their short tempers.

Chanyeol's jaw locks in place as a bitter sting of injustice settles within him. He doesn't believe that the accusation is a fair one to make. It is not so much the feeling of superiority that keeps him from reacting to his captors but more the feeling of 'you people are rude as hell and I'm not going to take it.' He has no problem in interacting with people of different classes at all, however, "it is people without class that I do not tolerate."

The retort comes out before he can even process it. As does the furious, white knuckled fist that is hurled at his face

"MY NOSE!"

"Jongdae!"

"Say that again, you shit! You think you're so high and mighty- WHY I 'OUGHTA-"

"Junmyeon, hold him back!"

Chanyeol can't see much from his fetal position down on the ground. Can't hear much besides the sound of his own pained groaning either. Fuck, being punched hurts like a bitch. He writhes with every agonising throb that racks through his nose as Kyungsoo and - the man he now identifies as - Junmyeon create an impromptu barrier with their bodies with which to hold back their fellow crew mate who menacingly swings his fists in the hostage's direction.

Chanyeol thinks it's too soon for another punch. Chanyeol thinks someone should call a timeout. And a medic.

Jongdae's incessant raging and verbal assault is nothing but high pitched screeching to Chanyeol's ears, words bleeding into one long, vexatious jumble of white noise. It's a good thing too, otherwise the amount of rude words being thrown around would have Chanyeol gasping and crying out to Jesus, this time not in agony.

The man cradling his nose pulls his hands away when he feels the telltale drips of liquid against his palms. They come away stained crimson. "My nose-"

Jongdae's howl of, "I'll break your fucking jaw next 'ya pussy bitch!" drowns out the opening and closing slams of a door.

"What is going on?" a new voice bellows, simultaneously joining the chaos whilst ending it all at once. Jongdae finally falls silent, though the glare he throws Chanyeol's way screeches volumes. Kyungsoo and Junmyeon's hands go to rest by their sides when their comrade finally calms and their heads bow, eyes gluing themselves to the floor in the presence of the louring man who stalks his way over to them.

Polished, black leather combat boots halt directly in front of the fallen naval captain. Chanyeol's heartbeat stops with it. In the reflection of the shiny surface, he can see a fresh stream of blood gushing from the cavities of his nose.

He sniffles just a little.

"I asked, what the fuck is going on," the man repeats, clearly incensed by the lack of response he'd recieved. The atmosphere thickens; the heavy silence that follows screams out in decibels even higher than the enraged roaring. It suffocates its victims.

When no one dares speak up, a single snarl breaks the spell. "Why is this oaf crying like a baby and why is he bleeding when I clearly ordered for there not to be a single scratch on him? Is anyone going to answer me?"

The voice is strikingly familiar, it's the voice that's been playing on repeat in Chanyeol's mind ever since the first listen: raspy, cold, livid. The absolute fury radiating off - who he can only guess is - the Captain of the Exodus chills even him to the bone. He can't even imagine what it's like to be on the receiving end of such a murderous tone.

( They're all shaking in their boots. Well, apart from Kyungsoo. )

"I lost my cool, Captain," Jongdae finally works up the courage to say, though it comes out as nothing but a quiet mumble while he worries his bottom lip between his teeth. "I apologise."

The apology is misdirected, Chanyeol reckons indignantly as he listens out for the furious outburst that's sure to follow, maybe even the sound of the Captain's own knuckles against beautifully crafted cheekbones - God, he really hopes Jongdae is made to walk the plank after this. But nothing of the sort happens. The Captain towering above him merely runs his svelte hands across the hard lines of his face, expression unreadable as ever, his eyes fluttering closed as a harrowing sigh is ripped from his throat.

"I've told you time and time again to control your actions, Jongdae. We have no tolerance for violence aboard my ship."

Chanyeol would feel robbed of his justice if he weren't in a state of shock at the sound of the Captain's voice; tired and on the verge of exasperation.

The male being reprimanded stoops into a low bow, apologising once again with shaky fingers clasped together over his lap, miles away from the sneering miscreant he was a few moments ago. His comrades squirm ever so slightly by his sides, unable to stand the sight of their Captain softening. They are used to screaming and death stares, not the sight of a shrunken man who looks utterly disappointed and slightly - maybe even - worried for his crew member. He is usually all smirks and blank stares, impassive features concealing his true inner turmoil, never giving away his thoughts or feelings - not a haggard shell of a man who speaks softly as if a whisper is all his body has the strength to release.

They decide that disappointment is not a look that sits right on their Captain's face.

The crew members are not permitted to dwell on it for too long, however, for the man of highest authority soon begins to harden his exterior again, as if catching his slipping mask. He makes quick work of shooing away his three teammates, suddenly all business as he barks out orders and schools his features back into his usual, unfeeling facade. "Junmyeon take Jongdae to Yixing, see if he needs any patching up. Kyungsoo, bring me a medical aid kit," he anchors his indecipherable gaze down onto Chanyeol, still lying on the floor, the tip of his boot nudging against the red head's arm. "This one definitely needs patching up."

The injured man makes the mistake of looking up and locking eyes with the Captain. They have him pinned to the floor, unable to move, paralysed. A shiver ripples throughout his entire body.

All of a sudden he is overwhelmed by the intensity swimming within a pair of dark oceans rimmed by black.

All of a sudden he realises you can drown in much more than just water.

//

"Stop fucking twitching."

Chanyeol tries his best to comply but the way the other male - "Captain Byun Baekhyun," he'd gruffly introduced himself as - is jabbing mercilessly at the dried blood clotting around his sore nose has the backs of his eyes prickling. He doesn't know what on Earth his new acquaintance is using on him but it stings like hell and could he please just stop soon?

It seems like the dark haired male is feeling kind enough to answer his prayers for just before Chanyeol can start to bawl his lungs out, Baekhyun is retracting the bloodied cloth and setting it down beside him, only to move in closer to inspect his captive's face.

The way his cold, indifferent gaze roams around Chanyeol's face has the latter fighting the urge to flinch away but the slender fingers that hold a firm grip on his chin and his own pride have him staying put. Baekhyun is silent as he manoeuvres his captive's head in all different angles, attempting to detect and uncover any other hidden bruises or wounds the squirming male could have been gifted by his men.

The man adorned by chains is currently positioned between Chanyeol's legs, leaning into the squirming male's personal space in a small, dining room. His nose is inches away from brushing against Chanyeol's - who seems to be the only one bothered by the awkward proximity - and the latter really has to wonder if Baekhyun is purposely dragging on the time, looking around for invisible cuts, or if he's just being thorough. He seems like the type to enjoy making others feel uncomfortable. Any which way, he is far too close for the red head's liking. With every shaky inhale, Chanyeol's senses become more and more overpowered with Baekhyun's heady scent. The other male's fragrance infiltrates his lungs, engulfing him in the aroma of sleepless nights and burnt out stars.

When the man finally concludes that there are no more bumps and scrapes secretly tainting even an inch of alabaster skin, he pulls back, looking quite pleased with himself. He moves to pack away the box of medical supplies laid out on the dining table - by the food that has been left to cool - when his gaze flickers down to the fiery haired man's hands, folded neatly in his lap for lack of anywhere else to put them.

Chanyeol is suddenly ten times more uncomfortable than he ever was before when Baekhyun's slender digits feather across his knuckles, scarlet blood smearing beneath the smooth pads of his fingers. "This happened in the brawl with Jongdae?" He speaks in a low murmur, a shock to the prisoner who has only ever heard the man's distinctive bellow. The snarky comment poised on the tip of his tongue about how noblemen don't brawl is suddenly forgotten.

It's a shame, Chanyeol thinks, because the sounds he makes when angered do no justice to the honey dulcet notes currently dripping from his lips.

The seated one looks up in confusion. This is not the same dangerous man he had encountered when he'd first got on the ship, boiling rage with a glare that cuts like a thousand knives, nor is he the man from a few minutes ago, the one who had reprimanded his men yet shown them a mercy that Chanyeol thought he could never be capable of possessing. Chanyeol doesn't know how to approach him, how to view him other than the man who'd kidnapped him; the man who is more than he lets on yet is also all that he lets on.

"This actually happened when I was so unceremoniously thrown into that horrid cell-"

His captor looks down at him, dark eyes flashing with something that has his blood curling. He takes Chanyeol's hand in his, none too gently when compared to the fleeting touch he had laid upon him just a second ago. He's changing again. Without another word, he reaches for the soaked, bloodied cloth that reeks of rusted metal.

Chanyeol hisses as the male tending to his wounds presses down against his open scabs, a silent warning that he hears loud and clear and has no choice but to adhere to. He says no more and grits his teeth, unwilling to let any pained sounds or worse, curses seep through. Noble men do not curse.

"Ah, what a shame. Sometimes Jongdae needs a good knocking or two to put him in his place," Baekhyun shrugs nonchalantly, acting as if he hadn't just revealed a sneak peek of the dark interior residing under his soft features, before promptly dropping Chanyeol's hand back in his lap. The latter is thankful when the other male finally takes a step back, putting some much needed distance between their bodies.

The version of the man in front of him combs his deft fingers through his raven black locks, heavy gaze quietly observing his captive. Chanyeol feels as though he's prey to a predator. But this isn't the type of predator who will eagerly sink his claws and fangs into him to dig into a well earned dinner, no, this is the type to play with his catch, to pick and prod and push until Chanyeol has reached his limits and is crying out for mercy.

He has a feeling he will not be given such a privilege.

After a lengthy stare down on Captain Byun's part - Chanyeol mostly just squirmed - the palpable silence is finally shattered. "So Park Chanyeol of the Merida," his lips slant into his own twisted interpretation of a smile, "I'm going to cut to the chase; you aren't the man I was looking to capture when I had my team raid your ship."

Despite already knowing this fact, Chanyeol still quirks an eyebrow. "So you're going to let me go?" It's wishful thinking really. "I don't need much, just drop me off at the nearest island and I can make do. You might want a head start in sailing away, though, I'll be sure to alert the authorities that I was kidnapped by a bunch of pirates-"

"We prefer the term rebels, Park. And I'm afraid we'll be doing nothing of the sort." The Captain's eyes flash with amusement before it is quickly snuffed out and replaced with the same indifference that never seems to leave him.

Chanyeol's eyebrows move again, this time drawing together. "That's Captain Park, if you please."

Within the span of a single second, Baekhyun's demeanour blackens, his face remains as icy and expressionless as before however the slightest downward twitch at the corners of his lips forces Chanyeol's hairs to stand on end. "Oh, I don't think so," he grits out. "You are hereby stripped of your rank and title. I am the only Captain aboard this ship."

Chanyeol has never heard anything so ridiculous. This stranger, who had accidentally abducted him, has the audacity to act as though he possesses the authority needed to lower his status and is crazy enough to believe that his captive would take such a ludicrous decision sitting down. He can't help the scoff that leaves his lips at the man's arrogance, eyes rolling in disbelief.

Baekhyun's jaw clenches but Chanyeol doesn't care. He will not be belittled like this and refuses to be tyrannised by a man he is easily a head taller than.

"On what grounds? With what authority?" He stands up now, towering over the smaller male who doesn't even bat an eyelash. His captor's eyes swim with suppressed rage, simmering and threatening to spill over the brim, pressure building up under the surface, waiting for an opportunity to blow. Chanyeol, though a usually carefree man, has faced his share of arrogant men who think they can walk all over him. He was raised to not take any of their derision and taught how to put those who stray back in their place without resorting to the usage of violence, but with a mere lash of his tongue which he finds is all the more powerful. "You're a mere pirate," he spits out the word with such disgust he almost deludes himself to thinking he sees Baekhyun flinch, "You have hardly even earned your title."

He expects the second set of knuckles today to pummel into his face, knows Baekhyun is desperately thinking about doing such a thing by the way his pretty fingers twitch. He doubts such a small fist would make much of an impact. But the blow never comes, instead, those orbs of steel close for a second whilst their owner lets out a low chuckle. A fucking laugh. Chanyeol has never felt so insulted in his life. The laugh is not one of mirth, but of cold, lifeless mocking.

"You don't know yet, do you?" Chanyeol now concludes the warm, saccharine quality that had laced the shorter's voice earlier was nothing but a trick of the ear. There is nothing warm about this man. He chooses not to reply and instead schools an impassive look of his own across his features; two can play this game.

Captain Byun turns on his heel ever so gracefully, making the mere act of walking over to the drawn, velvet curtains an art form. He looks over his shoulder, lips settled in the most unsettling of smirks as he pulls back the magenta fabric in one fluid motion. Outside the uncovered window is nothing but a stretch of darkness that Chanyeol fails to see the significance in. He crosses his arms across his chest, foot tapping impatiently against the ground as his gaze flickers between the window and the male leaning against it, hips cocked and eyebrows arched.

"So? It's night. Is this all you wanted to show me?" Chanyeol tries to suppress the shiver that runs down every vertebra of his spine when that same dry laugh spills from the pirate's lips.

"Come closer, why don't you, Park?" Baekhyun doesn't motion for him to move, his eyes compel him to instead while his arms cross in a much more relaxed mirror of Chanyeol's own defensive stance. The taller male tries to keep his expressions blank and unimpressed as he takes slow steps towards the window. With every move he makes, he sees nothing change in the view outside the glass other than the sight of inky darkness and a few stars that twinkle in the distance. And that is what unsettles him. There are no jagged outlines of any clouds painted dark in the night nor is there a moon, glowing pale in the sky, its twin manifested in the reflection of rippling waters below. It is a sight that he has grown accustomed to viewing every night from the Meridia, it is a sight that he knows should be visible from every corner of the seven seas, however it is not here. No; all Park Chanyeol sees is a large stretch of nothingness.

The awareness hits the taller male like a thunder bolt. He now finally begins to understand why he hadn't been feeling those familiar pangs of seasickness or the gentle lull of the waves rocking the ship from beneath the hull, both a menace and a comfort. Chanyeol's eyes widen in progression with the realisation that slowly dawns upon him. And then all of a sudden his bravado crumbles and he feels the need to double over, not caused by the feeling of the ship's movement but rather by the feeling of the ship's stillness. You don't feel any movement when you're gliding through the cosmos.

"We are in space now, Park," Baekhyun hisses, seeing the way the man slowly registers the truth of his situation. "This is my territory. I have all the authority in the universe out here."

//

Sometimes Baekhyun misses it. The life he used to have, I mean.

When he slides into his bed after a long day, muscles unwinding and thoughts ceasing, sometimes he will stare up at the ceiling and the darkness will merge and morph and manifest into scenes, pictures, images under the influence of fatigue and insanity. Sometimes he will think of home, sometimes he will imagine himself back on Meridia, back out sailing the high seas where he belongs. Sometimes he finds himself unable to forage any sense out of the unilluminated nothingness and succumbs to it instead, entering a fitful sleep plagued with dead eyes, wrong decisions and the fading smell of the sea.

Tonight, as he looks up above him into the familiar stretch of pitch black, all he sees are a round pair of eyes blinking down at him. They're not his own, soulless ones. They're his father's eyes: kind, caring, bright. Alive. He'd seen those eyes replicated today. In Chanyeol. In his captive, whose eyes had glared at him, questioned him, tried to figure him out. In those eyes that were so expressive that Baekhyun could decipher his every thought and feeling.

He misses it. He misses feeling, being overwhelmed with emotion and hope and happiness and everything that once made him human. He misses how he used to be before life had thrown its obstacles at him, each blow delivered molding him into a hollow shell of the boy he once was. Now all he feels is resentment and emptiness. It consumes him, you see, he has no time to feel anything else.

In a way, he is almost jealous of Chanyeol. Chanyeol breathes in air and breathes out life. Chanyeol lives while Baekhyun is suffocated from the inside out by the monsters that feed off what's left of his soul.

//

Chanyeol doesn't remember him, he concludes in a half asleep haze. It's ok, because sometimes Baekhyun can't remember himself either.

//

Kyungsoo drops by his cell the next morning. Or maybe it's night, you can never be too sure when you're out in space.

He is startled awake by the sound of a door crashing against the wall as it is almost ripped off its hinges. "Rise and shine, sleeping ugly," the raven haired man sing songs, tearing the thin blanket off Chanyeol's stirring figure. He'd finally given sleeping on the metal framed bed a try as a way to comfort himself from the events of yesterday. The man groans at the sudden loss of what little warmth he had been able to salvage during the night. "Captain says you're to no longer be confined in your little cell. Said it wasn't good for the health."

The prisoner perks up at this, suddenly fully awake. He immediately sits upright, staring incredulously at the beady eyed male whose presence in the already stuffy room makes it seem acres smaller. "You mean he's letting me go?" Chanyeol asks with a raised eyebrow, cautiously accepting the pile of neatly folded clothes that Kyungsoo thrusts under his nose. A plain white linen shirt and some black slacks.

Great - now he's trying to get him to dress like a pirate.

"I can go home?"

The corners of Kyungsoo's lips quirk up ever so slightly and Chanyeol deflates. He's got his answer.

"You know we can't let you go so easily, sea legs. Captain has, however, allowed you to walk around and roam the Exodus as you please so long as you don't cause no trouble." The shorter male informs him with a simple shrug of his shoulders before breezing past him, busying himself with stripping the bed bare. Chanyeol doesn't try to stop him, choosing to stare at the pirate in bewilderment instead.

"And why would they expect me not to cause any trouble? I am a wrongly kidnapped captive thirsty for revenge after all." He is almost offended at the scoff Kyungsoo supplies him.

"Well, you're effectively a fish out of water here in space. You've hardly got anywhere to run." The man motions for the displaced Captain to follow him as he promptly leaves the cell, bundle of sheets cuddled up in his arms. "You've also barely got any guts to even throw or take a single punch, so no one particularly sees you as a threat."

Ok. Now Chanyeol's offended. That fight with Jongdae was a one time thing. He'd been distracted by the man's awesome cheekbones. People should let it go. He can't relay any of this vital information to the owl eyed miscreant, unfortunately, as he is almost several paces ahead despite being substantially shorter in height in comparison to Chanyeol. Only a few short wheezes leave the latter's lips as he makes an effort to keep up.

"And besides, sea legs," Kyungsoo adds, his eyes tingeing violet. "You're the Captain's last hope." Chanyeol tries to convince himself it was just a trick of the light.

"Last hope?" The taller male's eyebrows jump up to his hairline. "What makes you say that?"

They walk up the same flight of stairs from yesterday into the main body of the ship, turning left down a corridor before they stop by a pair of large double doors. "The Captain's been trying to track your father down for quite some time now. He thinks you might be able to lead us to him. Or bring him to us."

"And what exactly does he want from my father?" Kyungsoo doesn't answer him, instead fishing out a bunch of shining keys attached to a keyring of a childish penguin character before using a copper one to unlock the door, inserting it into the keyhole. The door soundlessly swings open to reveal a decent sized bedroom with the entire far wall made up of glass and furnished with a double bed, a dresser and a desk.

"The Captain has asked for this to be your new room, since it looks like you may be staying with us for a while because we are unable to get in contact with your father-"

"Kyungsoo," Chanyeol levels a glowering look at the said man, spare clothes clutched in his tight grip. He is met with an unwavering gaze that once again flashes violet. It was no trick of the light. "What does your Captain want with my father?"

Kyungsoo counters his authoritative and steady tone with a coquettish smirk.

"Well, that, you're going to have to ask the Captain yourself."

//

Growing up, Chanyeol had always idolised his father. He looked up to the man who, in his eyes, was strong, successful, brave; everything Chanyeol had ever wanted to be. Everything he was told he would become. His father had roamed the seven seas his entire life, garnered wealth and status beyond imagination and yet always made it known that his son was his top priority. He'd taught him how to sail a boat, how to woo the ladies and how to keep all the men beneath him in their places. He had moulded Chanyeol into the man he is today.

( Chanyeol had never met his mother, he was said to have been the product of a one night stand but only having one parental figure never bothered him much. He didn't need anyone else. )

The navy Captain lets out a wistful sigh as he draws the curtains over the windows that look out into bleak emptiness, still unable to get used to his new surroundings. In space, there is no morning, only night. The once beautiful sun that washed the skies in its twilight hues to symbolise the start of a new day back on Earth is seen as nothing but a ball of burning gas.

Similarly, the hero he has always looked up to, the one who had always protected and loved him, is seen as nothing but an antagonist on this ship, a dim, tainted reflection of the noble image Chanyeol associates him with. And he is determined to find out why.

//

Captain Byun is hunched over a large desk when Chanyeol pokes his head in, freshly dressed in a new set of clean linens. The piece of furniture is pressed against the glass windows that take over the expanse of an entire wall, similar to Chanyeol's own layout though much grander. Caliginous eyes trace over the lines and labels of a large map that stretches all the way across the wooden desk; studying, searching, calculating. His lower lip colours sorely from its place between his teeth in an act of concentration and anxiety.

"Baekhyun?" the visitor calls out, deep voice cutting through palpable silence. His tongue fumbles awkwardly around the name but he cannot bring himself to address the male as anything more respectful. 'Captain' sounds wrong. 'Captor' sounds like a death wish. The sudden noise must have taken the man aback for he whips his head around to shoot the intruder a disgruntled look. After spending all day cooped up in his room with nothing but the sound of his own heartbeat for his ears to occupy themselves with, he must find the sound of another human unfamiliar. His expression quickly settles back into one of irritation at being disturbed when Chanyeol fully invites himself into his room, sealing the door closed with a soft click. 

The new presence within the Captain's chambers leans the expanse of his body back against the shut entrance. "May I have a word?" he asks, lips pulling into a small smile though he's not really giving the other much of a choice on the matter.

Baekhyun does not think to return the gesture and instead continues to leer at him. "Make it quick, scallywag, I'm busy."

Chanyeol quirks an eyebrow at the term, thinking that the Captain could have definitely mustered up a more potent insult than that. "Scallywag?" he scoffs, before shooting back, "If anyone's a scallywag here it should be you, considering the organisation you and your pirate friends are running here."

Baekhyun's glare darkens, this time spinning his entire body around to face him before leaning back against his desk, arms crossing over his chest. "Did you just come in here to insult me?" It doesn't sound very much like a question when he spits it out like that, Chanyeol thinks. "You're lucky we haven't just killed you off by now, you're a useless piece of scum to us anyways. A complete waste of space."

The taller's lashes sweep up as he blinks at the male situated across the room from him, a smirk settling on his features despite being subjected to Baekhyun's brutal words. The space between them seems to stretch light years. "Useless? That's not what I've been hearing. Quite the opposite in fact."

Baekhyun takes a second to reply, unrelenting gaze probing at the other male. Chanyeol would normally find himself fighting the urge to look away from those deep orbs, emptiness illuminated by the fire within him, but today he almost feels at ease under his gaze.

"What is it you want to say, Park? Spit it out. I'm busy."

"The name's Captain Park, thank you very much, Baekhyun. Or just Chanyeol if you must. This is the last time I will repeat myself."

Last night, when the two Captains had to suffer through each other's company, butting heads for longer than they'd sit down and pick away at their food, Chanyeol had felt as if he were cornered prey, however it seems they are currently experiencing a pleasant role reversal. He almost lets himself believe that he has the upper hand.

( But he can never have the upper hand. Baekhyun will always have it, always wrench it from his grasp, always have him guessing, wondering. )

"Chanyeol," the dark haired pirate rasps out, eyes narrowing dangerously. Said man still allows his heart to stutter at the sound of his name being called. "What do you want?"

No more games now, he tells himself, he fears if he leaves it too late he will never get his answer. "You were looking for my father, right? Still are, I presume." He registers a million different thoughts flashing through Baekhyun eyes as another silence stretches out between them, though his face remains stoic. This is the first time Chanyeol has ever been able to read the man. The first time he's ever let his guard slip. "Why?"

Chanyeol's voice seems to jolt him out of his thoughts and within a second flat, his walls are back up. His lips part, preparing to let out the single reply that was selected out of a million different possible responses.

"I have a debt to repay him."

It is an unsatisfying answer that has Chanyeol's expression hardening, his brows furrowing and mouth turning grim.

"A debt? Didn't think that pirates were the type of people to go hunting others down just to pay them back money-"

Baekhyun scoffs loudly. He wasn't aware that the man he had abducted was such an imbecile. "I'm not going through all this trouble just to pay him back for any money he might have lent me." His teeth grit and his hands come down to grip onto the edge of the desk, knuckles blanching. "I'm paying him back for everything that he has taken from me."

"Taken from you? What could he have possibly taken from you-"

"You don't remember me do you, Park Chanyeol?" Baekhyun asks, his head tilting a little to the side. He knows the answer, they both know, judging by the way Chanyeol starts to rack his brain, every nook and cranny of his memory, in order to recall even a trace of the boy.

'Byun Baekhyun...Byun Baekhyun...Byun Baekhyun...'

He seems to give up after a few minutes, youthful features forming a clueless expression. "Should I?"

Baekhyun almost seems disappointed, Chanyeol notes, eyeing the way the former's lips press together in a tight, hard line. He is too. How could ever have forgotten such a troubled gaze?

"No, I don't suppose you should. Don't suppose you would've even known about my existence. Why would the Captain's precious son have noticed a poor old swab boy?"

"What are you talking about?" Confusion is the only thing that's running through the fiery haired man's mind.

He inhales deeply before reciting his story. "My father and I worked on the Meridia. It was our home. I grew up there just as you did, only we co-existed under different circumstances and definitely didn't run around in the same circles." The taller's brows join together in bewilderment yet his mouth stays firmly closed, unable to even process this new information, let alone speak. Baekhyun forces out a bone chilling laugh in his expense. "Do you know how your father treated us, Chanyeol? Like vermin."

Chanyeol knew, of course he knew, but his father had always told him that it was the way things should be done to keep everyone in their places so nothing were to disrupt the natural order of hierarchy between the upper and lower classes. He'd never particularly agreed with it, of course, and took to treating his own workers with as much respect as possible so long as they treated him in the same way when he himself had become a Captain.

"But Baekhyun, that isn't really a good enough reason to be seeking revenge-'

"Do you think I don't know that? I am not a petty man, Park. My motives are deeply rooted," Baekhyun's gaze shoot daggers that pierce right through him. The hatred in his voice cuts even deeper. "Now get out of my room. Why don't you try to make yourself useful and get in contact with that bitch of a father of yours-"

"Byun Baekhyun, you watch your tongue, that's my father you're talking about," Chanyeol growls out, the look in his eyes ablaze, matching Baekhyun's own as the two bodies take synchronised, menacing steps closer. Two comets sharing a single collision course. In their meeting, only chaos and disaster could ensue.

"Oh right, your hero of a father," his tone is nothing but derisive. He locks his jaw tightly, teeth grinding together as he tries to keep the unwanted memories at bay. "You were always a daddy's boy, Chanyeol." The latter's nostrils flare and that is all the warning Baekhyun gets before his captive is closing the distance between them with a few quick strides and grabbing a fistful of his shirt. As he pulls him up onto his tiptoes to glare down at him, Baekhyun hardly even flinches, too distracted by the red clouding over his vision and resentment pounding through his veins.

"You've no right to be speaking ill of the man who gave you a place to stay, gave you a reason to live, gave you an opportunity to escape your wretched life on the mainland. That's why you and your father came on the expedition, right? Because your lives were so shit before that you needed an escape, " the son roars, sticking up for his father's defamed honor, trying to teach the insolent, ungrateful man in his grasp a lesson. Baekhyun merely rolls his eyes skywards at his efforts.

"I'm so fucking thankful," his tone screams sarcasm, perfectly timing a verbal jab at the same time as a physical one against the other's chest. "That man also ruined my life."

Tightening his grip on the man's shirt, Chanyeol implores him to speak in a way in which he can understand, searching into those bottomless eyes for some sort of explanation. All he sees are more and more secrets and repressed words. "Baekhyun," it almost sounds like a plea. Their noses bump against each other but neither recoil. Fire meets fire in an intense battle of locked gazes, merging into one raging inferno that envelops them both in a fervent heat. "What are you talking about-"

This is where Baekhyun seems to snap. All of a sudden, a million and one emotions unravel in his eyes, too fast and too many for Chanyeol to decrypt. It's as if every single little thing the smaller has ever kept bottled up inside is being unleashed all at once, exploding under the pressure. In this moment he resents Chanyeol more than anyone. He does not get to find bliss in ignorance, he does not get sing someone's praises without knowing all the evil they have committed, he does not get to invalidate Baekhyun's suffering. As if a dam has broken under a doting son's blindness, Baekhyun's inner turmoil floods and drowns everything within reach. Neither party know how to react when such strong barriers come crumbling down.

"The night of the first alien invasions on Earth, your father saved you, right?"

Chanyeol's throat closes up as his gaze scans the elder's face who is looking more and more like a lost boy by the second. "Yes, he'd thought up a plan for us to escape. Unfortunately only we were able to slip away. How did you know-" He is cut off mid sentence by Baekhyun's bitter exhale of dark amusement.

"How can you not know?"

Pure frustration courses through Chanyeol. The inability to get a straight sentence from the man in front of him has him snapping, shaking the shorter's body as if it'll get an answer out of him. "Don't know what, Baekhyun? What aren't you telling me?"

But the man encompassed by physical and mental chains pays him no heed, words now spewing from his lips constantly. Chanyeol had wanted him to talk, but not so meaninglessly. He'd wanted answers yet all he gets is Baekhyun's rambling that's directed more towards himself than anyone else. "Of course he wouldn't tell his own son, otherwise he'd have no one worshipping the ground he walks on. That coward."

"Byun Baekhyun-" The venomous tone in Chanyeol's voice would have taken the elder back if he had even a single scrap of sanity left in him, if he wasn't already on the way to spiralling down a deep pit of self-destruction.

Chanyeol was wrong before; this is when Baekhyun snaps.

The shorter forces him off with such strength that he has the taller reeling backwards from where he came. A slender hand snakes itself around his throat as he stumbles and finds himself once against pressed up against the door, only this time another human body is keeping him in place. One that trembles with fury and pain.

Chanyeol has no right to think he has the upper hand, has no right to be telling Baekhyun what to do, what to think and that what he's doing is wrong when he has lived his entire life being fed from a silver spoon. He has no right to try and understand Baekhyun. Baekhyun already knows what he's doing is wrong, but this is all he can do for his fallen father, all that he can make of his life now that everything he's ever known has fallen apart.

The man with hair the colour of bleak, boundless space is now leaning into Chanyeol, eyes blown wide and voice plagued with the agony of his sullied memories. That same intoxicating scent that invades Chanyeol's body in addition to the shorter man's deranged expression has his breath come out harsh and ragged.

"Your father traded his entire crew in order for your own safety," Baekhyun snarls, fingers digging into the skin of his neck, ripping a hiss from his victim's lips whose eyes tremble. When the new revelation sinks in, it feels as though his entire life has been flipped upside down, a complete 180 turn. "Your father willingly gave away the men who slaved away for him for years. He let those aliens take us away to some dark, dingy space prison where we were to rot for all eternity."

"I-" Chanyeol is unable to say anything so long as Baekhyun's digits continue to cut off circulation. He claws at the man's arm, wheezing and pleading him with his desperate stare to relinquish his hold but Baekhyun is beyond reasoning and only tightens his grip, strengthens his resolve. Pretty lips contort into a scowl while Suffering personifies itself in human form.

"I could kill you right here, right now, Park," he grates out. "A life for life. That's the principle your father seemed to have followed back then. A dozen lives traded for yours and your father's. Seems fair, right? A couple ordinary people sacrificed to sustain the life of one, special little boy and his hero."

Every word is a knife in Chanyeol's chest, bullets launched by the gun that is his captor's mouth. His tongue is a whip that lashes at him and leaves fresh open wounds across his soul. Fear poisons his blood. This deranged man could kill him in a heartbeat. And a part of Chanyeol almost accepts it. He'd always been so thankful towards his father, so in awe of the man who had managed to save him from such a dire situation. His saviour. But he hadn't known at what cost. Now he knows the price of his life and the blood on his hands, it makes his stomach churn as his lungs cry out for breath.

"Your father's actions caused the death of my own," it's the final blow, the arrow that hits home, curving in the air before striking bullseye and implanting itself in the centre of his heart. His words are punctuated by the quiet, yet unmistakable sound of a tired voice cracking. Baekhyun only carries on despite sporting a throat hoarse from constant shouting, eyes red from sleepless nights that plague him and soul exhausted from a lifetime of living whilst only half alive. "Do you not know how that feels? Of course you wouldn't. You have a father. Alive. One who would do anything to ensure your safety. Anything. And I'm going to take advantage of it."

Baekhyun lets him go when black begins to spot his vision and the backs of his own eyes start to prickle. He spins on his heel, turning his back to the man whom he leaves gasping for sweet oxygen that does nothing to soothe his bitter insides.

Seconds go by in sickening silence before Baekhyun staggers back over to his desk, hands clutching onto the edge of it. He looks smaller like this, in Chanyeol's eyes, with his shoulders shaking and the harsh lighting illuminating all the cracks against a porcelain mask. He finally speaks once Chanyeol has calmed his breathing, voice starting off sounding like a feather, soft and quivering as it is shaken by the wind before quickly strengthening until it is pure, fire licking at his insides. "I will find your father and, so help me Lord, I will get my revenge. I will make him atone for his sins and I will do it without a slither of guilt. Now get the fuck out my room."

He doesn't have to be told twice. Without keeping his eyes off the smaller man's shoulders that slope downwards as if carrying the weight of a thousand planets, Chanyeol hurriedly feels around before finally grasping onto the door handle and stumbling out of the room.

"I'm sorry Baekhyun," he whispers before he leaves. The quiet sound ricochets off the walls and resounds in the man's ears. It is left to linger.

Baekhyun doesn't know why hearing such simple words have his heart feeling lighter than ever, finally allowing him to block out everything else and just breathe. He thinks it's absurd that after years of being consumed by his own demons, it's a simple apology that can make him feel at ease, yet welcomes the feeling anyways.

The door slams shut, leaving the Captain to drown in his own consciousness. He is left alone, knuckles turning white and fingers being crushed under the pressure he exerts upon them as liquid forms of emotion cling to his eyelashes and a storm rages in his heart.

At least he now knows that he's still capable of feeling.


	4. III

The soft sound of bare feet padding against marble floors is almost inaudible over the incessant whirring of oxygen circulating in the vents overhead. The cool surface bites at Chanyeol exposed toes but he pays it no heed, only takes quick, stealthy steps towards his destination: the kitchen.

Raking a hand through his mussed bed hair that resembles an uncontrollable burning flame now more than ever, Chanyeol winces at the thundering rumbling of his stomach that carries down the empty corridors. He skipped dinner again last night. He decides now that it wasn't the smartest of ideas - his ever fed belly reacting grouchily to the prospect of being empty for once in his life - but it was a measure taken in hopes of avoiding another confrontation with a certain, intimidating man. Dinner is the only meal that the Captain joins everyone for. Chanyeol couldn't stomach the thought of seeing him again so soon after their previous disastrous meeting. 'Soon' being used to replace the time figure of an entire week. Chanyeol had avoided stepping foot in the communal dining hall for the past week, however his stomach is ever the betrayer. It grumbles loudly now in the stillness of - what he supposes is - the night, though Chanyeol isn't sure how anyone can even tell whether it’s morning or night or somewhere in between when the view outside the window is so constant.

After his clash with Baekhyun, Chanyeol hadn't been able to show his face around the ship. Hadn't been able to eat. Hadn't been able to sleep, either. Whether it be while he's staring up at the stretch of ceiling above his bed, trying to find solace in the mercy sleep refused to grant him, or while he's twisting and turning in his fitful dreams; all he can see is a pair of tortured, dark orbs.

The image brings with it complete and utter destruction. Memories of his life play out before him any chance they can get, forcing him to watch the nostalgic pictures of his past flicker by, filtered through new, blackened lenses. In this corrected version of his recollections, his father is no hero; he's a monster. A liar. The only thing that holds true is his love for Chanyeol that translates itself in wrong, selfish ways. His memories twist themselves into bitter images implanted in his brain by the one who man who has suffered the most because of them. The man he is currently avoiding like the plague.

With a sigh he expels the guilt rising up in his throat - an unfortunately temporary fix - and refocuses on his task. Hopefully a full, sated stomach will be able to aid him in his quest for some peace.

‘I could've sworn the kitchen was somewhere nearby,’ he thinks as he pushes limp, dirty hair out of his vision. ‘I hope it's empty.’

//

Nearby it was. Empty it was not.

Chanyeol takes one hurried step into his paradise before abruptly turning on his heel with a yelp, rushing to make a quick retreat as soon as he notices the other figure already in the room.

"Come back here, sealegs," Kyungsoo sighs, not even having to look up to detect his presence. His busy hands continue to slice away at a wiggling purple vegetable on his chopping board - 'Kiss the Chef' apron tied neatly over his pressed clothes - as Chanyeol is forced to stop mid-step. "Sit."

Like a dog with his tail tucked between his legs, the captive makes his way back into the kitchen, smile bashful and head angled downwards as he grudgingly obeys Kyungsoo's commands. He can't bear to look at him when his face is currently mimicking the colour of his hair.

"Uh, I seem to have gotten a little lost," Chanyeol tries, voice failing him and cracking from underuse. He scratches his head, trying to force the growing sense of embarrassment back as he takes a seat at the kitchen counter, opposite an unimpressed Kyungsoo. "Was looking for the bathroom and all that-"

"All rooms on the Exodus have ensuites."

"Oh, yeah. Must have forgotten." He smiles sheepishly, the captive's attention quickly becoming stolen by the large pot on the stove when he catches a whiff of Kyungsoo’s famous vegetable broth. His throat bobs as he swallows.

"Oh yeah?" the Captain's right-hand man hums, finally putting down his cutting utensil - a machete that's almost twice the size of his own head - and proceeds to toss the chopped up vegetable over his shoulder and into the broth, on autopilot. It wiggles in agony in the boiling water. Kyungsoo doesn't look sorry. "And how is your mission of avoiding Baekhyun going?"

Chanyeol almost winces at the sound of his name. His back straightens and his eyes frantically dart around the room, landing everywhere and anywhere that isn't Kyungsoo. "I uh - don't know what you're talking about."

"No? So he's not the reason you've stopped coming to dinner and why you've resorted to sneaking food out the kitchen so late at night?" the alien asks all too knowingly, cornering the captain. Chanyeol hates how perceptive Kyungsoo can be.

"No-" he is cut off mid-sentence when his stomach commits the ultimate mutiny and lets out a loud rumble and triggers a violent blush to gush up the taller's neck. Chanyeol keeps ahold of his pride, however, and admits nothing, glancing up at Kyungsoo's judging expression before shoving his hand into the nearest cookie jar and stealing a sweet treat. "I'm just here for a midnight snack," he tells him with his mouth full, cookie crumbs flying around like little spaceships.

The pirate mumbles something along the lines of, "savages," before letting him be. Chanyeol takes it as permission to steal as many cookies as he wishes.

//

Somewhere along the way, Chanyeol finds himself engaging in pleasant conversation with Kyungsoo. Maybe it can be blamed on the late hour, the many traumas he'd suffered so far during his time aboard the Exodus or perhaps just due to the fact that Kyungsoo is surprisingly easy to talk to. Either way Chanyeol finds himself opening up to the burly male he once held an unsavoury opinion on. Kyungsoo tells him that he is only up at such a hour because his species - Technicans from the planet of Technos - can survive on minimal sleep and because he has to get breakfast ready for the crew while Chanyeol, in turn, relays to him how just under a week ago Baekhyun had dropped a bombshell on him that not only ruined his life and had him questioning everything his father had ever taught him but also had him developing some sort of sympathy for the pirate. All whilst slowly depleting the contents of the cookie jar.

"Ah, the Captain has such a way with his words. One would think the oaf had been raised by wolves with those manners of his," Kyungsoo all but scoffs out, his words triggering a scandalised gasp from his listener.

"How can you say that about your Captain?" Chanyeol exclaims as if the word 'Captain' were the end all be all of things.

With a roll of violet eyes, Kyungsoo releases a sophisticated snort at the expense of the captive. "I'm his right-hand man and his closest friend. I am the pilot, the engineer and the cook of the ship - even more talented and vital to the running of the ship than the Captain is himself. In fact, I built this very ship for him back when he couldn't even tell aluminium from steel, I consider it my right and privllage to say whatever I want about him!" the audacious man insists indignantly, waving his machete around as he speaks.

"Isn't it mutiny to say such things behind the Captain's back?" the taller boy questions, not as horrified as he is stunned. Back on Earth any bad mouthing of the Captain from his crew would've led straight to the plank, maybe even the stocks with the cruelest of captains peppering on the punishment of lashings to silence the gutsy scamps for good but it seems the people on board the Exodus have no mind for status and power and hierarchy at all. Chanyeol supposes it's not a bad thing.

Kyungsoo replies with a twinkle in his eyes. "Not if he knows it's the truth."

Mid snort, Chanyeol's eyes accidentally catch sight of the container he currently has his hand stuck down. They widen in horror at the bright red 'Captain's Jar' painted across it. Might as well have been written in his own blood.

Kyungsoo is quick to notice the sudden tensing of the redhead's body, eyes nonchalantly flickering between the jar and the captive as if unable to see what the probelm was.

"Fuck he's going to kill me isn't he," Chanyeol gasps out, retracting his hand as if burnt to the millionth degree. His large eyes rounden to new heights as the familiar prickling feeling of svelte fingers wrapped around his throat have the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow at his show of acute fear despite finding the situation nothing short of amusing.

"Calm down, sealegs, it was an honest mistake," he says with a tut of his tongue, pulling the jar away from him slightly. Chanyeol clearly isn't convinced if his paling skin is anything to go by.

"God, Kyungsoo, start planning my funeral."

Kyungsoo merely turns away from the red haired male, words easily leaving his mouth in an unmediated, detached manner. "Why are you so scared of him?"

"Why aren't you?" It's a question that has Kyungsoo chuckling at its absurditiy but to Chanyeol it's a question he needs an answer too. "I'm the son of the man who ruined his life. I'm his hostage. He could kill me any time he wanted, I bet he thinks about it multiple times a day, just why shouldn't I be scared of him?" Kyungsoo notes the exasperated breathiness in Chanyeol's voice, the way he seems on the verge of hysterical tears fueled by fatigue and his own irrational fear. His only response is to roll his eyes at such a dramatic display.

"I think you really need to get some more sleep," he remarks cooly to which the other male sniffs in agreement.

Despite his inability to sympathise - the curse of his race - he does soften his features acutely, turning once more to face the nervous wreck who sits before him. "Listen Chanyeol," he starts gently, prying out the cookie that was inching towards the captive's mouth from grubby hands to place it back in the jar before the supplies are depleted too badly. He does not have time to bake and restock the Captain's stash of sugary sweets. "I understand why you'd be intimidated by Baekhyun - the eyeliner, the chains, are part of his tough boy act - however he's not as bad as he seems, he could never kill you in cold blood - don't look at me like that, it's true. He's just -" there is a break in his speech as he begins to gesture expressively with his hands as if trying to pull the right word that could even begin to describe the character that was their Captain out of thin air. His features turn somber and his shoulders deflate once he finds it, gaze brimming with a sort of second-hand sadness. "He's just lost."

The taller male sobers at this, countenance dialing down into a look of quiet understanding. Understanding that is much too real. The Captain is a flurry of a million different fiery emotions, somewhere between being consumed by the fury and the sadness and the pain, he seems to have lost his way. Kyungsoo watches as a round pair of clear eyes grow distant, clouding over with an all too familiar look that sets off a dull pang in his heart.

"Well, I guess I'm pretty lost too, Kyungsoo."

"Hm, there's one thing you have in common," the latter mutters as he pushes himself off the counter, gaze hardening again back to their usual form as he refocuses on cooking. "Now if only you both could make amends with your father, everything would be fixed and Baekhyun can finally take me on that vacation he's long been promising me."

Chanyeol hums quietly at his words. Kyungsoo is prepared to take it as a sign of agreement, however the red haired male soon looks up at him, bottom lip worried between his teeth as a thousand uncertain feelings clearly illustrate themselves over his features. It's a look that Kyungsoo's become used to seeing.

"But the truth is, even I don't know where my father is these days."

//

On the morning of Chanyeol's 21st birthday, the redhead had not woken to the annual sight of his father beaming at him with a candled cake in his hand, but instead to the image of the old man in a large padded coat, back bent over a suitcase packed to the brim. He was going away to travel, he'd announced, the sadness of parting injecting itself into the apologetic curve of his lips. He was retiring and in the form of a birthday present was bestowing his beloved ship in the capable hands of his only son. When he boarded the first passenger ship to outer space later that day, Chanyeol had thought it was his father's way of treating himself for a whole lifetime of serving his country, but now Chanyeol dares to think it was more like he was running away.

Though his father would write back to him and send him mountains of post cards and photos from all the new corners of the galaxy he explored, his departure still took a toll on the young captain. Chanyeol felt out of place in the house he'd grown up in, in the ship that was too big without a certain, larger presence by his side. Both the places he had once loved became too large, too hollow; the halls and his heart too empty in his father's absence. He felt lost.

Now he feels the same as he did back then. However this time it is not because he has physically lost his father, but because he has lost sight of the man he thought he was.

//

Baekhyun rests his body against the wall, eyes fluttering closed as he takes in the deep laughter floating out of the open door of the kitchen next to him, the sound sweeping through his hair and kissing his earlobes. If he imagines hard enough, he can hear the warm tone of his father's voice bleeding into the notes made by his captive. He relaxes into the sensation, aches and bruise in his body soothed under his fabricated illusion.

His blood is still pumping from his earlier breakdown, the shaking of his fingertips only just beginning to subside. Currently, his room lays in shambles, everything scattered across the floor: a tattered map covered in angry pencil markings that painfully cross off planet after planet and taint the beauty of the universe lies on the floor, swept off the desk in a fit of rage. It waits there for its owner's temper to wane, for him to pick it up and straighten out the wrinkles ironed into parchment under the soft press of fingertips before resuming his search with a clear head.

He doesn't dare take a peek. Kyungsoo would catch him in an instant, everything that passes the threshold of his precious kitchen being easily detected under his range of heightened alien senses. Instead, he stays there, listening to the way his right hand man's chiming laughter mingles with the warm sounds of their prisoner's as he cooks.

"You should join us for dinner more often instead of snacking on the Captain's treats. I hope this doesn't become a regular thing." Baekhyun's eyes narrow. He hopes so too.

"Would he even want me there?"

"I'm sure the Captain would love to see your face after all those days of you avoiding him."

There is a rustling sound that fills up the pause of his words. No doubt, the oaf had stolen another cookie. "I'm not so sure, though." Baekhyun could hear the confectionary in his voice.

"Of course, he would. Handsome fellow like yourself." Another pause.

"You think I'm handsome, Kyungsoo?"

At this point, Baekhyun decides he's had enough and kicks himself off of the wall with the familiar feeling of irritation poisoning him, a new kind of pain bleeding into the mix. As he storms away with stinging fingertips he makes a mental note to reprimand Kyungsoo for letting someone else eat his beloved snacks and for being so civil to their captive. He's not here for them to be chummy with, he's here to lead Baekhyun to his fate.

With fists balled tightly by his sides and nails marking his smooth palms, he goes back to the map that he believes will help set a lost boy free.

//

The alarms are blaring throughout the Exodus, lights of red and blue flashing and disorientating the only man onboard who does not know their meaning. Other men are rushing to and fro in small groups, wielding pistons and swords and clubs while Chanyeol gapes helplessly, his position frozen by the door of his room. He scans the organised chaos. No one notices him. If they did then they ignore him. They're on a mission, they have no time to lose.

With his eyebrows furrowing impossibly close in utter bewilderment, he grabs ahold of a familiar figure as it whizzes past him. "Kyungsoo," he says, immediately locking gazes with blown out light brown eyes that flash violet with recognition. He is shocked by the exhilaration that oozes out from the shorter male in his grasp. "What's happening?"

"The Captain's ordered us to raid a nearby ship," he replies breathlessly with a smile that sends chills down Chanyeol's spine. He doesn't like what he sees.

He can feel the adrenaline - the excitement - rushing through his veins from where he holds onto his wrist. It reminds him of the harsh reality that this man is a pirate. Though he is one with strong maternal instincts and killer cooking skills who has been accommodating to his 'midnight snacking' habit for the past few days, he is still also one who enjoys pillaging and raiding and rebelling. The naval Captain releases his grip on him, recoiling as if scorched.

If Kyungsoo notices his sudden change in demeanour, he doesn't say anything, instead beckoning him forward. Chanyeol follows him blindly, still numbed by how many illusions and images of people he thought he knew were breaking before his very eyes. "Captain wants everyone besides a few to help on the raid, whether you want to get your delicate hands dirtied with the rest of us or stay in your room like a coward, that's up to you, but you should still be armed just in case," Baekhyun's right-hand man chatters, leading him down the corridor and left, where he throws open a door to reveal a weapons and artillery room. He takes several guns for himself and shoves a single revolver into the dazed sailor's chest before running off to attend to his own business, a simple, "stay alive," being his only form of farewell.

Chanyeol takes a blurry moment to examine the weapon, runs his gaze over the armament that lies in his hand. His expressionless face glares back at him, reflected by shining metal that gleams with bloody promise. Sunken cheeks and dark circles scream back at him.

He's knows how to shoot. He'd learnt on Earth as part of his training. His preferred weapon of use was a musket, one large enough to tuck under his arm and heavy enough to leave behind from time to time. This revolver, however, feels off to him, his finger sitting all wrong on the trigger. It's too small in his large palm, too cold against his warmth, too simple and harmless looking to be responsible for taking another's life. At least, a musket is large and somewhat menacing. It would be an embarrassment to have your life taken from such a thing - disrespectful to even point it at someone.

It doesn't stay in his palm for long, however, for stealth fingers are soon snatching it away from him. He's almost thankful.

"What do you think you're doing?" the new figure asks him, scowl painted across his features as genuine confusion bleeds into his gaze. Chanyeol thinks that the petite weapon looks better in Baekhyun's small hands than his own. "You don't need this, this raid will be easy and over with in no time. Just stay in your room for the duration of it and keep out of sight. You're not a member of the crew, you won't be forced to join us on our - expedition."

Something about the hesitancy that infiltrates Baekhyun's voice as they wrap around his final word sparks something within Chanyeol, the way his eyelids flutter rapidly like wings causing his eyebrows to quirk upwards. It seems everyone has something to be ashamed of, something to hide, something they wish wasn't a blight upon their life: Baekhyun's is his pirate life and Chanyeol's is his father's role in steering him onto that path.

The latter watches in silent fascination as Baekhyun pulls out a silver longsword from the artilery room, it flashes with malice, catching the light as he sheaths it at his waist before moving to place the revolver back in its designated drawer. Chanyeol's hand takes a life on its own and snatches the weapon back before either male can even react. He’s brought back to his senses when he feels a coldness seeping into his palm and a pair of glaring, dark orbs scrutinising him - rimmed with kohl as usual.

"What do you think you're doing?" Baekhyun asks for the second time. Chanyeol really wishes he knew.

"Joining you," Chanyeol answers a beat too late but his words do not waver. These are the first words he's spoken to the shorter since their last chaotic meeting. He forces his voice to sound as nonchalant as possible, raising one of his shoulders in a shrug as he bites back the bitter surge of pity he feels whenever he looks into the Captain's electric eyes. He can't unsee it. Can't unsee the pain in them. "I'm a trained captain, I know what I'm doing and I'd rather be of help to you than be holed up in my room like a damsel in distress-"

Baekhyun scoffs at this. "I don't need any help. Not from a dainty sailor like you. Now run along before you get a bullet hole in that pretty face of yours, Park." His chains that pierce his lower lip and ear glint fiendishly like armour. Chanyeol briefly wonders if the Captain uses words as a form of armour too: equipping insults along his skin to prevent anyone from getting close to him, to prevent anyone from hurting him.

He allows a small smirk to tug on his lips at Baekhyun's words that once would have scalded him.

"You think I'm pretty, Byun?" To Chanyeol's disbelief - and slight delight - his captor can do nothing but gape in stunned silence as a violent shade of pink washes itself over his cheeks. He's reminded of the conversation he'd overheard between the captive and Kyungsoo last night. He's reminded of the fear this man has for him, the easy banter he'd established with his right hand man, the soft warmth that carries in his laughter.

The pirate's unexpected reaction has the smirk slipping off of Chanyeol's lips as seconds tick by, stretching into minutes and Baekhyun is still unable to think up a retort to spit out.

‘God, why did I say that?’

The taller of the two Captains decides to relieve the other of his misery - and himself of his own awkwardness - as he shoves his gun into his pocket gracelessly. "Aren't you going to take a gun? You know, more effective and stuff." He inclines his head stiffly towards the longsword resting at the raven haired man's side, not in a show of concern but for a lack of anything better to say, he convinces himself.

Baekhyun clears his throat quietly, eyes steeling over while the pretty flush is forced back down to where it came from. He doesn't look him in the eyes. "You have your weapons and I have mine. Join us or not, I don't care, just don't get in my way," he rasps coldly before barging past his captive, making sure to let their shoulders brush in a not so gentle way.

Chanyeol turns to watch him go, sees his figure slowly getting smaller and smaller as the distance between them gets bigger and bigger. He joins his rowdy men, giving them orders and laying out their plan of attack with hard features, miles away from the blushing boy he'd been a few seconds ago. Chanyeol knows he'd achieved his first ever victory when it came to him, but finds this side of him - his high and mighty facade - easier to deal with. It's become familiar waters now after all his time spent on the Exodus. The furiously flustered man from earlier is dangerous - foreign territory -and Chanyeol has no desire to relearn how to deal with the man all over again. He doubts he'll be sticking around for long enough to.

//

Baekhyun presses his back against the cool wall behind him, eyes alert and dancing. The cold seeps into his skin, twists down his spine and sends shivers rippling along the expanse of his body. His ears pick up on the rapid falling of panicked feet, echoing from somewhere down the foreign corridor he treads down - steps careful and calculated, senses heightened under the influence of adrenaline. He grips onto his sword with blanched knuckles, fingers strong around the hilt as unfamiliar voices shouting in unfamiliar dialect bounce off the metal of the walls. His weapon of choice may not be as effective as a gun, but it is all Baekhyun needs to keep himself safe. His chest moves up and down steadily, every single breath planned out, calculated, in order to keep himself undetected, to keep himself in control of the situation and the numbed trepidation that he forcefully pushes to the back of his mind.

Turning the next corner would be dangerous, he knows. Holding his breath, inching himself up to the sharp left turn, he prepares himself. Anything could be around the next bend. This isn't his ship. He's willing stepped into someone else's territory. Nowhere is safe. But he trusts in himself and so he takes the leap of faith and swings around the corner, on the balls of his feet, agile.

A gun clicks against his temple and his blood turns to ice.

His own gleaming blade finds its rightful place pressed up against the windpipe of his towering adversary whose shaky hands touch a revolver against his skin. Both weapons scream in vicious bloodlust. But one’s battle cry is louder than the other. 

Yes, the gun's bullet may be faster and more deadly than Baekhyun's sword, but judging by the way chocolate eyes waver under his icy, unaffected gaze, he assumes the man has no intention of shooting. Not when they're on the same side. At least, Baekhyun thinks they're on the same side.

"What are you doing here," he hisses, shoulders releasing the tension they held as he slaps away Chanyeol's hand with the hilt of his sword. Chanyeol's eyes follow the motion of his hand as it comes to rest by his side, chest heaving, dazed with adrenaline and short-lived fear that drenches his nerve ends.

When he doesn't answer, Baekhyun forces himself to look away from the small beads of sweat that drip down Chanyeol's forehead, down his cheek, his sharp jawline. "With a shaky grip like that you're more likely to shoot yourself than me," the man adorned by chains mumbles, his own feeble way of distracting the male. He doesn't know how to approach him. Not after he'd let him see so much of him the last time they were alone. Not after he'd blown up at him for something that wasn't really his fault. He doesn't know how to face such empty, lost eyes after knowing he is the cause of them. He imagines that's the same way Chanyeol feels whenever he looks at him too.

Long eyelashes flutter as the taller Captain blinks rapidly, trying to muster up some coherent words. "I thought you might have needed some extra help." His deep voice breaks slightly but other than that he seems to have gathered his composure quickly. A common trait all Captains must share in the face of danger.

( Why would you want to help someone you should despise, Baekhyun wants to ask. You're my captive not my crew member. )

"You'll be doing me more harm than good," Baekhyun says instead, clicking his tongue as his eyes make quick work of scanning their surroundings, still on high alert while Chanyeol lets his arms flop uselessly by his side. When the coast seems clear, Baekhyun allows his eyes to scan the taller's body for any injuries, though his attention is preoccupied by his clothes. "I see you're taking to the pirate life well," he comments, noting the loose white shirt and slacks that drape themselves over Chanyeol's body and not to mention the weapon he wields. He almost allows a smirk to pull at the corner of his mouth.

Chanyeol's belated reply holds no amusement and his deflated demeanour causes the former's expression to falter. "Isn't this what people resort to when they have nothing left?"

Baekhyun can't even tell him how right he is.

He literally can't tell him. Because within the next second, the shorter's eyes flicker over Chanyeol's shoulder and widen instantly in alarm.

That's all the warning Chanyeol gets before Baekhyun is swooping down to grab onto his right hand, where his gun is gripped loosely before switching their positions. Baekhyun glides forwards, pressing Chanyeol's body against his back, fingers perfectly finding their place over the trigger. The taller's heart races against his skin.

The gun clicks and a bullet slices through bone faster than he can register. The victim's dead before their knees even hit the floor. When Chanyeol finally pulls himself together, Baekhyun is moving away and a green alien of a species unknown to him lies lifeless on the floor, with a hole in his skull that releases a pool of purple blood for it to bathe its head in.

"You - You killed him." The accusation in his voice almost stings.

Before Chanyeol can think too much of Baekhyun's closeness, of his infatuating scent invading his every cell, he feels the hot, harsh metal of a gun being thrust against his chest and an irritated Baekhyun glaring up at him. Gunpowder invades his sinuses and a flurry of sparks that can't be blamed on the weapon takes over his vision.

"What did you want me to do? Let him shoot you? You had your guard down. He would've blasted your head off even more mercilessly than I did him." The fierce look of fury recreates itself in Baekhyun's eyes. The eyes of a killer. The fiery haired man has to remind himself of what Baekhyun is because for some reason he finds himself forgetting. Not believing.

Before the accused can even get in another word, Baekhyun is stalking away, sword shaking in his tight grip. Chanyeol is quick to be hot on his heels. “I don't have time to deal with you. We have to get to the main centre of the ship and shut it down. I'm not having this ship float away, there's too much riding on this."

Chanyeol frowns at this, easily catching up to the shorter, unlike he had with Kyungsoo. Dread pools in the pit of his stomach. Only mayhem can unfold under Baekhyun's uncontrollable madness. "Can't you just get the cargo and leave? Kyungsoo tells me that's what you usually do."

The mention of Kyungsoo angers him more. "I've told you before, Park, space is my territory, I know how to do things here, I know how they work. It's much easier for a ship to teleport away in space, never to be seen again than it is at sea."

Chanyeol's frown deepens, morphing into something alike a scowl of judgement. "Or maybe someone's hands are just itching to take part in a killing fest. That's what raids are usually about right? Killing for the sake of killing. Murder in the pursuit of treasure or self satisfaction."

He has no right to judge. "You speak of me as if I'm a monster," it's a simple accusation that leaves Baekhyun's lips without much of a thought. His pace doesn't slow down but Chanyeol's steps stutter for a split second as something rings true in him. His feet are forced to a halt and Baekhyun has no choice but to mimic him though his eyes scream to keep moving.

"What else can I take you for?" Chanyeol runs an ashen hand through bold, red hair. He doesn't know if he'll get through to Baekhyun, he doesn't know if it's even possible to get through to him but he'll sure as hell try. "Do you know what humans are known for, Byun? Their humanity. Their ability to be compassionate, to be able to relate to people, to care about others rather than just themselves. I see none of those qualities in you, Baekhyun. Pirates like you terrorise people, you make people afraid, you make them coop themselves up in their home and live their lives in fear and you kill for sport." Every single word is a translation of all the pent up feelings Chanyeol had forced himself to swallow during his time as Baekhyun's captive. He hopes the pirate will be able to feel the bitter burn of it all.

( But they're his father's own words, ones that had been instilled in him since young. He wonders how much truth is behind them.

The answer is: enough. )

There is enough truth behind those words to have Baekhyun's eyes flooding with something akin to resignation. All of a sudden Chanyeol wishes he'd never had the courage to have spoken. "If that is so then I guess I truly am a monster. The human side of me died a long time ago. My soul is buried beside my father and my ashes are scattered home, by the sea." He points an accusing finger his way. It trembles under the unwinding of Baekhyun's temper. "You have no right to speak to me about humanity when the only reason you are still alive and before me right now is because of your own father's selfishness."

Baekhyun moves to turn around again. He's determined to complete his mission with or without Chanyeol. He doesn't need him to succeed. The latter swallows his pride and reaches out. He tries to call out to Baekhyun, his name already perched on the tip of his tongue, but all that falls from his lips is a groan of pain as a bullet of gunpowder encased in metal embeds itself into his shoulder.

The groan resonates and Baekhyun whips back around, jaw clenched tight. He draws his sword just in time to bat away a bullet aimed at his skull. One look at Chanyeol, fallen to the ground with his teeth digging into his lower lip in an attempt to keep pained noises from escaping has Baekhyun shifting into fight mode. Earlier anger forgotten, he charges forward towards their assailant, a blue skinned alien with spindly tentacles wrapped around its face. Its gruesome features make Baekhyun all the less guilty as he severs off the hand that wields its weapon and impales the blade of his sword into its chest. It falls with a final roar of pain before silencing forever. The thud of a lifeless body against metal floors is muted by the thunder of approaching footsteps. It almost sounds like an entire army's approaching. Baekhyun's blood runs cold but he has no time for fear. "Hey," he hisses, boot nudging the fallen sailor who clutches his wounded shoulder. Chanyeol's eyes are blown wide and alarm laces his features. Baekhyun ignores the man's disorientation and urges him up, foregoing their earlier exchange of hurtful words and focusing on the task at hand. "Get up. Now would be a great time to put your training to some use." With short, static breaths, the raven haired man presses the cool metal of Chanyeol's dropped revolver into his hand. He looks up at him with hard eyes, settling into his persona of the calm, collected commanding Captain of the Exodus. "I need you to concentrate, Chanyeol, if either of us wants to get out of this alive we're going to have to work together. I know you want to hold off on hurting people. But I will tell you right now these guys will kill you as soon as they get the chance. Have no mercy. If you want to survive right now, Chanyeol then you've got the pull that fucking trigger."

Numb and with adrenaline coursing through his veins, the taller Captain nods, concentrating on the sound of Baekhyun's steady, authoritative voice rather than the panic that eats away at him. He steels his features into a look of concentration though his adam's apple bobs up and down with dread. Baekhyun's eyes sweep over his face and both of them pretend not to notice the acute concern seeping into his expression.

They are soon surrounded by both exits of the corridor by a dozen or so aliens, each one a different colour and uglier than the last. Some look human, like Jongdae, Junmyeon, some eyes flash a telltale shade of violet like Kyungsoo and a feeling of anxiety settles into the pit of Chanyeol's stomach. Baekhyun moves to face a group of them, back pressing against Chanyeol's. He feels the latter's blood seeping through his shirt and into his own but doesn't think too much of it. He's used to having blood on his hands.

"Make yourself useful, Park. And don't you dare let yourself die," Baekhyun growls before quickly picking up his last kill's forgotten weapon and effortlessly puncturing holes into two of his opponents skulls. It almost sounds like words of concern but Chanyeol knows better. He needs him to lure in his father. He almost contemplates letting himself die here to escape this mess.

The instinct of self preservation in his blood will not let him be so foolish.

While Chanyeol hasn't seen much conflict, it doesn't mean he is a complete stranger to it. No Captain gets to his position without seeing his fair share of death and destruction, although Baekhyun has definitely seen enough of it for the both of them - caused enough of it too, no doubt.

The latter's body moves with experience. He's quick, eyes always scanning, always analysing his opponent's movements. He's thinking, Chanyeol notices from whatever glimpses of him he can sneak between his own hurried movements, not entirely sure if it's something to be praised. He himself is usually one to rely on his impulses and reflexes, giving himself up to the rush of danger, the need for survival. In this haze, he doesn't have to notice what he's doing. He doesn't have to feel the pain racking through his shoulder caused by metal embedded in muscle. He doesn't have to think or feel anything as he just crooks his finger over the trigger. One, two, three times. It's easier this way, he thinks as the bodies fall one by one.

"A bit slow on your feet, huh Baekhyun?" Chanyeol sends him a jab as the shorter catches a spiked club to his side, puncturing his flesh though his own breathing is ragged and muscles are quickly tiring. Baekhyun only offers him an irritated grunt that translates to 'mind your own business.' Chanyeol's lips twitch upwards. He can't see the Captain right now, but he can tell he's fine.

One more click of Chanyeol's gun and a splatter of purple blood decorates grey metal walls.

The misplaced redhead rolls to dodge a bullet that screams his name, ripping a groan from his throat as his shoulder protests against the strain. He’s all out of bullets now, he realises as he tries to return the favour, only resulting in a curved metal piece grazing his cheek. "Shit," he curses shamelessly as vibrant liquid trickles down his face, throwing his now-useless revolver against the ground. Manners be damned.

He only brought one weapon with him. Usually it's all he needs, all he can bear carrying with him. He wasn't exactly expecting to get caught up in any intense action. He was a fool. He should've known; chaos always follows Baekhyun wherever he goes. As long as he's with Baekhyun he's always going to get caught up in the crossfire.

Behind him, Baekhyun is doing a little better. Sword in one hand, gun in the other. His group of enemies is quickly depleting, every single one injured at least. It gives him time to pick up a fallen alien's musket, lugging it over in Chanyeol's direction, smuggest of smirks gracing his lips.

"A bit slow in the head, huh Chanyeol?"

"Prefer the term reliant on my instincts," the latter grits out, clicking his tongue and shaking his head at himself more than anything. The musket is nice and heavy in his hold. His territory.

The naval Captain rolls back his shoulders, feeling the tension ooze from them like blood and makes quick work of picking off the last of his enemies. His energy is rapidly depleting and the natural numbing effect of adrenaline is fading only to give way to searing pain and looming guilt. He imagines that even aliens have families.

"Instincts would remind you to carry more than one weapon on you." Baekhyun dances around attacks aimed at him, one with the air as he lunges forward, engaging in a one and one battle with his final standing adversary who holds his tastes in weapons. It seems the gash in his side woke him up a little. Metal clangs against metal and Baekhyun swiftly steps around each lunge made at him, reading his opponent's movements before he can even carry them out. Tiring of the push and pull, Baekhyun fits in one perfectly timed thrust, wrenching his sword through his foe's gut. And that's the end of him.

Chanyeol watches it all from his place slumped on the ground, propped up against the wall. Shallow breaths are all he can manage now, the effects of blood loss weighing down on his eyelids. Red stains his white linens but he can't bring himself to care. He hates that stupid pirate shirt anyway.

"Park," Baekhyun barks, all business as he takes quick strides over to his side, spitting out blood across a fallen alien's body. Soft hands find themselves on Chanyeol's jaw before the latter can wince over the blatant show of disrespect, tilting it upwards lightly. The feeling of those same fingers malignant around his neck are erased by the tenderness of this touch. He must be hallucinating now. "Park, look at me. We need to get you back to the Exodus. Can you move?"

Waving his hand, Chanyeol lifts a corner of his lips. "I can move. Don’t take me back to your ship - I can carry on."

"Carry on? What are you talking about?" Eyebrows knit together to form a look of confusion that the latter thinks doesn't sit right on Baekhyun's pretty face. Despite his faults - and he has many - Chanyeol can't deny that the Captain's face is not the worst view to be beholding in what could be his last moments. But that could just be oncoming death talking. "You're turning back right now. I'm calling Kyungsoo-"

"Who's going to stop you, Baekhyun?" he whispers, no more strength left in his body. Desperation radiates off him, diffusing through the air like crimson colour through white fabric. "Who's going to stop you from losing control? From losing yourself even more? From all this destruction and suffering?” 

Baekhyun turns cold now, concern snuffed out of his eyes. He almost looks resigned. Dark eyes lock on empty ones, a strange feeling sparks between them but neither looks away. "You're a fool if you think you have it in you to stop me," Baekhyun says, voice no louder than Chanyeol's was. His hands tremble by his sides before he speaks into his communicator device in his ear. "Kyungsoo get your ass over here."

It's almost funny how Baekhyun trusts Kyungsoo to be alright more than he trusts himself to stop the destruction he has started. Would be funny if it weren't such a damning thought.

"I would stop you," Chanyeol says, resting the crown of his head back against cool metal, eyelids fluttering closed. "At least I'd try. With everything I have."

"Then you're a fool, Park," Baekhyun repeats, slight aggravation in his voice as he urges Kyungsoo to come quicker. Two fingers press against the vein in his wrist and in his blackening haze, Chanyeol grabs onto them, engulfing them in his large palm.

"Trust me a little, Byun." A stupid smile spreads itself across his face as his vision fades into darkness.

//

Chanyeol comes to with a raging pain in his left shoulder blade. The brighter than bright lighting has him cursing quietly. He'd just escaped death, he'd appreciate it if the Exodus could turn down Her obnoxious luminosity for just a second. He finds that even sitting up is a difficult job and by the time Kyungsoo comes rushing to his side in aid, he is already out of breath and sweating profusely. He also registers a dull ache in his ribs and wonders just what else is wrong with him.

"Afraid we almost lost you there, sea legs," Kyungsoo says quietly. A purpling bruise outlines one of his owlish eyes but otherwise, he seems unharmed. "You lost quite a lot of blood." There is brief concern that flashes through those round orbs and Chanyeol feels sorry for ever having judged the man for being a pirate. He is unable to hold resentment against him despite his occupation.

Chanyeol's voice is hoarse and his throat burns when he tries to speak. He doesn't know if it's because of the ordeal he had to face or because of the name that escapes from it. "Baekhyun..." He was the last face Chanyeol had seen before he'd blacked out.

"Ah yes, the Captain was in pretty bad shape too. But I guess he thinks it's all worth it seeing as we were successful in our mission."

Chanyeol didn't know whether or not he should be happy that Baekhyun succeeded in his bloodthirsty plan. He chooses to save what little words he can make out for more important things.

"He saved me." His eyes as they look up at Kyungsoo's contain only confusion.

A knowing smile spreads across Kyungsoo's lips. They're chapped and dried up blood decorates a split in the middle. "That he did. Multiple times from what I heard.”

Chanyeol hadn't thought about it too much at the time, he was too busy thinking about how to stop Baekhyun from becoming some sort of mass murderer. The man had saved him and still, Chanyeol had the audacity to spit words of scorn at him, accuse him of being less than human, lower his value and judge him based on what little bits of him he thought he knew. He'd almost outdone his own father. And yet through all of Chanyeol's blindness, Baekhyun was still willing to save him. Knitting his brows together, Chanyeol tries to keep the oncoming headache at bay, undoubtedly triggered by how he was unable to fit all the pieces of the puzzle that was Byun Baekhyun together.

"I called him a monster. He could've just left me to die." The confusion etching itself over handsome features almost has Kyungsoo feeling sorry for the giant oaf. "Yet he still saved me. Why?" A part of him hopes it's not just so he could lure his father in. Chanyeol knows that even if he were to lose his life, Baekhyun would not stop until he had the point of his sword against his father's neck.

"Maybe it's because of your handsome face."

"Kyungsoo," he sighs, clearly not up for any of their usual banter as he runs a hand over the sore muscles of his face.

There is a pregnant pause before Kyungsoo seems to give in. "Do you know what was on that ship, Chanyeol?" he asks, voice soft, yet his eyes are hard and imploring, almost pleading. He wants him to understand. Chanyeol shakes his head, urging Kyungsoo on.

Nothing would have prepared him for what he was about to take in next.

"Children. We took over a child trafficking agency. We managed to save all the children onboard, capture the leaders of the organisation and call the authorities. Obviously, we couldn't turn them in ourselves, that would've been suicide but we stuck around, turned on our invisible shield defenses until the ship was discovered. That's why he couldn't just get the cargo and leave."

Chanyeol's shocked, glassy eyes and heavy silence speaks volumes.

The doe-eyed man offers him a small smile that resembles something like comfort, a hand resting itself on his right shoulder. "You don't have to think the Captain is a high and mighty hero, but just cut him some slack, Chanyeol."

//

It's when Kyungsoo finally leaves his room at night, turns off the lights and leaves him to his own devices that Chanyeol's brain starts whirring its gears. And once it starts, it doesn't stop. It doesn't stop at one conclusion and leave him alone for the night, it keeps going like a chain reaction, one new thing that he deciphers leading him to crack another case. Until he makes cracks against the exterior of Baekhyun's mask.

He supposes he couldn't have done it without the latter's help. Once Baekhyun had told him of his connection to his father, causing him to question everything he'd ever been taught by him, he started to pick things apart, decide things for himself. His father had always told him that those in lower stations in life to them were deemed inferior, but Chanyeol had labelled this teaching as untrue and unfair early on. His father had also told him that people who did bad things and made bad choices were ultimately bad and bad to the core. While this was not an unreasonable thing to teach a child, Chanyeol realises now that there's much more to it than just that. Baekhyun has multiple sides to him, Kyungsoo has multiple sides to him, everyone has: that is the way the world works. People cannot be categorised into plain black or plain white.

He understands now. He sees it. Sees Baekhyun in a different light, sees him without any prejudice.

His discovery has him throwing off his covers and shooting out of bed like lightning, running down the halls at the same pace as his racing heart.

//

Monster. Monster. You're a monster.

The syllables bleed deep into Baekhyun's brain; accusing, attacking. It's Chanyeol's voice he hears - always Chanyeol's voice at first - but then it blends into another song, into familiar warm dulcet tones; it contorts into one of the man who'd raised him. In his head, his father's voice laces itself with a poison that infiltrates Baekhyun's entire body. Monster. It cuts him deeper than a thousand blades. He grips onto his ever familiar desk, knuckles turning white as he tries to ground himself, tries to save himself.

His shirt lies forgotten on the floor, bandages decorating the full expanse of his bare chest, each one covering up a new wound, a new scar that will tattoo itself across pale skin. The wretched map lies next to it, tormenting him, mocking him. Monster. You're a monster. Back then Baekhyun had agreed that yes he was a monster and even now he knows those words to be true. There was nothing he could do about it. Though he asks himself why he's doing this, why he's wasting his energy on being so hateful, why he's letting such a heinous quest rot his soul when this is not what his father would have wanted, when this is not him; he knows it's because it's all he has left. This is the last piece in the shattered puzzle of what his life was meant to be. Some pieces are lost forever.

( Monsters are created not born, they are fashioned out of the wear and tear of time and of all the shit the universe has to throw at them. Who knows who Baekhyun was meant to be before all this? )

‘Chanyeol was right,’ the broken boy thinks, digging the heels of his palms into his eyes, willing the tears to stay back, baring his teeth together painfully in an attempt to keep the whimpers at bay. ‘I've become a monster.’

If Baekhyun is a whirlwind in an ocean, drowning itself in the force that it itself exerts, then Chanyeol is a hurricane: sudden and devastating as he unleashes himself into Baekhyun's safe space without warning. The Captain had barely heard him come in over the sound of his sobs.

"Baekhyun," his voice trembles. His hands, clenched by his side, do too. The sudden intrusion has the latter's eyes screwing shut as he tries to get a hold of himself and regain his composure, to wipe away the moisture staining his cheeks though he so desperately wants to drown in his own tears. He looks up to engage Chanyeol's resigned gaze with bloodshot eyes and a shaking body. Chanyeol's eyes mirror his, familiar distress thrashing within dark oceans. He's drowning too.

Two hazards meet, joining forces to create an area of mass destruction.

"What do you want, Park," he says. The hard steel usually injected into his words is no longer there, in its place is nothing but pure exhaustion. Taking in a shaky breath, he turns his back to the redhead as he furiously wipes his eyes. "Make it quick, I'm busy."

"Clearly." Chanyeol has never seen the Captain look so small. He has to tear his eyes away from his bare back, covered in a thin layer of sweat and dried patches of scarlet blood. He has bigger things to worry about. "Baekhyun, you saved me. Why?"

The addressed does not reply for a second, instead, shutting his eyes for the briefest of moments. He doesn't know why Chanyeol had come to pick a fight with him, why there is so much accusation in his voice as if he'd have rather died than be standing before him right now, witnessing him in such a moment of weakness.

( Your enemy's weaknesses should be your strengths, Chanyeol's father had once taught him. But Chanyeol doesn't even know if he could call Baekhyun his enemy anymore, doesn't know if he should abide by anything his father has taught him anymore. )

Baekhyun spins around after much more time passes than Chanyeol would have liked. His eyes are steeled over as ever, but Chanyeol finds himself reading into the way his hands cling to his desk. To his constant. To his mission. He reads way too much into everything Baekhyun does these days, trying to find a story, a secret, a hidden cry for help in every one of his captor's movements. He almost fears that he's got him all figured out by now.

"Thought it would have been a shame to let you bleed out. Your father wouldn't have been too happy about that." The feigned nonchalance in his voice does not deter Chanyeol.

"Thank you, Baekhyun," the taller says, voice barely above a whisper. The latter is too stunned to reply so Chanyeol takes this as his opportunity to strike. Like he had learnt in training, you have to attack your opponent when their guard is down if you want to win.

This is a fight Chanyeol can't risk losing.

"You know, you're not actually a bad person," he muses. There is too much meaning in his voice to make the Captain feel comfortable.

"Why thank you, Park-"

"No I mean-" he runs a hand through hair the colour of a glowing flame as he cuts off Baekhyun's forced sarcastic reply, exhaling in exasperation. "You know you're not a bad person. So why keep making yourself out to be? Why keep trying to be someone you're not? Why let yourself be consumed by this endless rage and psychological torture?"

Baekhyun gawks at his hostage, bewildered by the sudden detour their conversation took. Drops of moisture still cling to his eyelashes but Chanyeol cannot allow himself to be distracted, cannot be so weak hearted when trying to get an answer out of Byun Baekhyun. That's something he'd learnt a while ago.

"Why not just let yourself be at peace, Baekhyun?" He looks like a pleading child now, it almost makes the Captain's heart skip a beat.

"Peace," the personification of Pain whispers the word, tests it out, feels how it rolls off his tongue with difficulty; it sticks in the back of his dry throat and his Adam's apple bobs in an attempt to swallow the word down along with all its wretched connotations. He looks and sounds as if he were on the verge of breaking. But Chanyeol supposes he'd been broken long before this. "Is there even such a thing?" His eyes are anywhere but Chanyeol.

"Of course there is," the overgrown child in front of him insists, taking a step closer towards him as he reaches out, voice begging for him to look up. Baekhyun never knew he was claustrophobic until his bedroom suddenly seemed to shrink before his very eyes and all the walls around his heart started breaking down. "Of course there is, Baekhyun."

"Then I guess the Gods do not wish peace upon me." He glides away, easily stepping out of Chanyeol's reach, pushing past him. He's dancing around him like a shadow running from the light. His arms cross over his chest unconsciously, keeping whatever kind of barrier he can between him and Chanyeol. Lord only knows he'd find a way to break that down too. The fiery haired man turns on his heel, never keeping his attention off of him. Baekhyun drowns and suffocates in the pools of black understanding. He doesn't want to be understood. He wants to be left alone. He is who he is and no heart felt speech is going to change that. "They wish suffering upon suffering on me. One of those sufferings is listening to the ramblings of a boy who believes he knows me." The harsh growl that erupts from the Captain's throat flies over Chanyeol's head and is thrown into the wind.

"Don't I know you, Baekhyun?" The addressed's jaw opens and closes repeatedly, a thousand retorts sitting on the tip of his tongue yet not even one manages to break free from the confines of his lips. Chanyeol speaks in his stead. "You make yourself seem so complex, so unattainable, so emotionally unavailable to feel anything besides anger but in reality, you're just like me; a boy. A lost boy." Kyungsoo's words seem all the more believable coming from his mouth.

Each word is a bullet to Baekhyun's gut, leaving him breathless and gasping, pain prickling through his body all the way to his fingertips that curl in on themselves to mask their uncontrollable quivering. Chanyeol is not faring much better.

The fiery haired male takes a step closer and this time, Baekhyun lets him. "I know who you are. I know you're trying to hide something. What is it?" Chanyeol tries to look underneath his mask - "Your vulnerability? Your naivety?" - and this time, Baekhyun lets him.

"My heart." They are but simple words yet that take all of his energy to spit out. He takes a shaky breath before continuing, finding strength in the eyes of a boy who is just as wrecked as him. He swims in those oceans of darkness. "I'm trying to hide my heart, Park. I don't wish to go through love and the pain of inevitable loss again. I don't wish to love anything like I loved my father, like I loved the sea, for the risk of losing it all and being left lost and empty once it is gone." Chanyeol stops himself from moving and covering those small, trembling fists with his own large palms. He's only just got Baekhyun to let him in. He can't risk scaring him away. "You shouldn't be so naive either, shouldn't be so open and trusting to everyone. Shouldn't believe everyone is good on the inside."

"There's goodness in everyone Baekhyun." He realises now that it's truer than ever. "It's just that not everyone decides to show it. You try to hide it. But it's still there. It's unconsciously there. You saved me, you saved children in need, you care about your crew members. Unconscious kindness is the act of a truly pure soul."

"My soul is anything but pure." There is no bite to his words, only bitter resignation in acceptance of the truth. He tries to turn away from the taller but Chanyeol only dips his head down - closer - to find his gaze again. Out of desperation, Baekhyun screws his eyes shut. He fears he has no place to run to now. He blocks out the glassy, warm orbs that try to desperately look down into his, refuses to acknowledge that someone has seen through his facade, that someone actually cared enough to try.

"But I believe you're wrong." Another step closer this time. Another step closer to figuring him out. "I believe you're the purest of us all." The shorter's eyelids fly open, torture bleeding across his features as he looks up into honest, pools of sincerity, searching for any sort of indication that Chanyeol is only here to scorn and mock him. But there is no lie in them.

Warm hands rest themselves on his shoulders, turning him slightly, pulling him closer to the source of warmth that melts away his icy exterior. It radiates and spreads itself over his body, engulfing him. Two puzzle pieces fitting together perfectly. A riddle unravelling itself.

Baekhyun is hurting, he's broken, he's been broken for so long, unable to feel anything but hollow emptiness and anger that has no end yet also has no real source. But now there's someone here. Someone who makes him feel human, who reminds him he is human, capable of goodness, capable of feeling - if the thundering of his heartbeat is anything to go by. He's done running, he's done pushing everything away that doesn't fit into his agenda of self-destruction. For once, just this once, he'll allow himself to fall, to give in, to lose himself for a moment and lean into the blazing heat he so longs for. He's been cold for so long.

His hands find purchase against either side of the taller's neck, in the gentlest way possible, like he had back on the foreign ship with his thumbs brushing lightly against a strong jaw. Chanyeol's pulse rushes underneath his fingertips. His touches are gentle, soft, tentative, unsure but the taller knows better than to underestimate him.

In this dim light, with tear tracks still visible against smooth, porcelain cheeks and without any chains adorning his body - not even his ever present lip ring - Baekhyun looks so beautiful and defenceless. No fronts, no pretences, only plain Byun Baekhyun bearing his all for his hostage to see.

The lockdown of gazes isn't particularly lustful or consuming; it's not burning with want and need and longing. But it is intense, a quiet sort of yearning. Like an ache that rests just beneath your skin, insistent and close, begging for you to do something about it. With the way Chanyeol looks down at Baekhyun, eyes roaming across every single tortured feature before resting lightly on his lips like an afterthought, Baekhyun knows it's much more than just lust.

It's the coaxing warmth that exudes from the older, quietly being offered to him to indulge in. It's the stuttering of his held breath against his skin, assuring him that he's just as hesitant about making the next move as he is. It's the taller's neverending questions, the searching gazes, the way he acts as if he needs to know Baekkhyun, needs to decode him or everything they've been through would have been for nought. It's the way Baekhyun longs to give into the unknown, to feel the small embers, the small sparks of what could be and to see if he could make them burn as brightly as the stars themselves. And that's just it. That's what gives Baekhyun the strength to tip toe up, pull him down and lock their lips together in a kiss that's entirely experimental yet nothing but addictive.

If Chanyeol is disapproving of Baekhyun's sudden boldness and constantly fluctuating hot and cold reception of him then he doesn't show it. He, in turn, moves his own lips against pierced ones, plush and warm against his captor's - the man who he was meant to resent with a passion. His hands move to the small of his back, pulling him in closer and closer and closer, impossibly so, to recreate that passion in a different form. The sparks build up, slowly at first. Until they allow themselves to be devoured by the flames.

Gentle touches morph into a raging inferno, as all things with Baekhyun do. He is not capable of feeling in small, controlled quantities. With him, it's all or nothing. He'd always thought he lived half alive, numb, with an inability to feel, but Chanyeol proved him otherwise. Baekhyun feels too much, everything and anything and nothing at all. Baekhyun's alive and alight and there's no one to thank for that other than Chanyeol.

And so he thanks Chanyeol in the only way his pride knows how.

Skin skims along skin, leaving ripples of ecstasy in their wake. Rough, calloused hands explore new territory as greedy fingers tear at rumpled clothes, leaving them strewn across the floor. Lips move against lips in a fiery battle of dominance that does nothing but coil that ball of roaring fire in Baekhyun's gut tighter and tighter. Broken boys find solace in each other. Together they are whole.

Chanyeol's touch on him sets his soul ablaze. ‘I want to burn,’ he thinks with rapture. ‘I want to burn.’


	5. IV

Dinner is always a rowdy occasion on the Exodus. Chanyeol watches with mild amusement as half drunk pirates bellow from one end of the long, dining table to the other, throwing food and curses left, right and centre. The wooden table they're seated at stretches across the entirety of the communal dining hall, built to accommodate all bodies aboard the ship. It's as befitting as the chant of "we are one" that the miscreants cry out in place of a quiet grace and the redhead can't help but smile to himself. 'We are one indeed,' he thinks as he tips his head in acknowledgement to the pirate sitting next to him. He is replied with a toothy grin.

The first time Chanyeol joined the crew for dinner - courtesy of Kyungsoo beating down his door and dragging him out his room - the loud chatter and drunken slurs had intimidated him to no end. He had cowered in his seat at the corner of the table, silently squirming while the rest of the pirates went about their boisterous business. They'd paid no attention to him, those who did were hostile. Now, he laughs along with everyone else as Sehun, a young recruit from Mars, makes a fool of himself, alcohol circulating his system and tinging the tips of his ears pink. He even makes light conversation with other pirates at the table who no longer try to spit in his direction and instead offer him warm smiles of acceptance. They seem to have changed their opinion on him after the raid, though Chanyeol's sure the change in their attitudes could be attributed to a persuasive Kyungsoo and his machete.

Kris, master of guns and weaponry aboard the Exodus, has been not-so-subtly boring holes into the side of his face ever since the start of the meal and Chanyeol simpers under his gaze. He shoots a small, coy smile Kris' way, eyes purposely hooded, to let him know that he is aware of his attention. The blonde is quick to look away, though Chanyeol does not miss the smirk decorating his lips.

Chanyeol's not blind. He knows he's good looking - especially tonight, with his flaming red hair pushed back and light eyeliner framing his round eyes in a way that he knows makes him look irresistible. He's not sure where the sudden urge to doll up had come from, he hasn't done it since he left - was taken from(?) - Earth; perhaps it's just because he's been feeling a lot more like his usual self lately.

With his ego sufficiently inflated, Chanyeol brings his wine glass to his smug lips and chances a glance above the rim to lock onto a pair of dark kohl-rimmed eyes. He almost chokes on his drink. The heavy gaze on him leaves his skin itching. Perfectly kept eyebrows quirk up at him - challenging - but before Chanyeol can do anything in response, the owner of the gaze is shifting their focus, causing Chanyeol to fog up his wine glass with a short sigh of defeat.

'Kris is a handsome guy,' he thinks almost dismally, but it is someone else's attention that he is craving tonight.

Captain Byun Baekhyun is truly a sight to behold, decked out in his ever present chains and smokey eye makeup. The tantalising curl of his thin, tinted lips as he makes idle conversation with his men has Chanyeol's breath stuttering and his throat drying. With a hammering heart, he hurriedly inhales the rest of his red nectar, forcing himself to swallow it down along with all thoughts of the magnetic Captain. Regardless, the raging ball of want residing in the pit of his stomach continues to throb.

Bastard, he grumbles in his head before topping up his wine glass.

Somewhere in the background, a few fists are being waved around as a drunk Jongdae - surprise, surprise - marks his target for the night and calls someone out for being a "pussy ass bitch tryna steal ma man!"

It seems today's victim of Jongdae's flippant wrath is Luhan, a delicate little thing who injects as much venom into his voice as he can muster, words slurred with the influence of alcohol and anger as he shoots back, "he was ma man just last week before you and your flat ass stole him away!" The swirling spirals that make their way up the alabaster skin of the man's forearms glow a light blue hue and for a moment Chanyeol is entranced. They are the markings of the Veni, the dwindling population of the children of Venus. He doesn't know much about them. He'll have to ask Kyungsoo later.

Jongdae retaliates with a disbelieving scoff. His lover - Junmyeon, if Chanyeol remembers correctly - can only look on at the situation in amusement while Jongdae sinks his claws into the sleeve of his jumper. "Everyone was your man at one point in time. Heck, you even tried to get into the Captain's pants once!" Baekhyun has the audacity to chuckle and act like he has no part in the drama. At this, Chanyeol's grip around his butter knife unconsciously tightens.

"I'LL SHOOT YOU IN THE DICK, I SWEAR IT."

"And I swear, Jongdae, that on the next planet we take a pit stop on, I'm leaving you behind," the man sat regally at the head of the table bemoans, his voice - though not raised - resounds around the room like a gunshot. A hush falls over the table that's really just everyone trying to hold in their snickers in at the expense of a red-faced Jongdae. A smirk even crawls onto Baekhyun's own face at the former's embarrassment before he resumes his task of daintily cutting up his vegetables as if nothing had happened. Everyone knows Baekhyun would never actually leave Jongdae behind - or any of his crew members for that matter - even if getting rid of the man would save him a whole lot of trouble.

Chanyeol meets Baekhyun's gaze again from across the table and his smirk slips off almost immediately. Speaking of trouble.

The Captain's face steels over, expression unreadable as the previous banter at the table starts up again. No one spares a second thought for their behaviour, just brushing it off as Captain Byun being hostile to their hostage as per usual. Nothing unusual. Nothing new. 

Chanyeol begrudgingly supposes that a night of weakness and a morning of waking up alone and naked in a bed - even though it was Baekhyun's room - shouldn't really have changed things anyway. He just wishes that Baekhyun was not so insistent on making it so painfully obvious that he's avoiding him - it really doesn't do much for Chanyeol's bruising ego.

Maybe it's the hair, he thinks with a sad-ish scowl, running his fingers through the mentioned red locks with a frown. He ignores Kris' drooling in his peripheral vision.

Somewhere in the background, Junmyeon pulls a sulking Jongdae into his lap and a scowling Luhan looks on in disdain. "Don't be jealous, Lulu, why don't you just join us tonight?" Chanyeol regrets thinking for even a brief second that Junmyeon was normal as the dining hall promptly erupts in a chorus of wolf whistles.

//

The excited chatter - and Junmyeon's strange three-way with Luhan and Jongdae - is interrupted by the screeching scrape of the Captain's chair against the floor. It captures everyone's attention.

"Leaving before dessert?" Kyungsoo asks, looking up at the man he who was seated at his left, mouth agape. The Captain never leaves before dessert.

"Sorry, Kyungsoo, I have some things I need to do." Chanyeol doesn't miss the way Baekhyun's eyes flash in his direction. He does consider for a brief moment, though, that the dark gaze sliding up and down the length of his body is all a figment of his imagination. Baekhyun flashes everyone an apologetic smile as he tears his gaze away from his hostage. "You all continue with your fun, now," this triggers a ripple of laughter that washes over the hall. "Hell, you guys can even empty out our entire alcohol store, I don't mind. Just please don't disturb me. I suspect I shall be very busy tonight." His eyes are back on Chanyeol now, not that anyone notices. The promise swimming in them has the red head's heart beating like a drum and he can do nothing but pretend like his eyes aren't glued to the enticing sway of the Captain's hips as he struts out the room. He wouldn't be the only one to do so, that's for sure.

Needless to say, Chanyeol excuses himself not too long after.

//

The door to the Captain's quarters swings open and before his mentally pre-rehearsed remark of "so now you wish to acknowledge my existence?" can be spoken, Chanyeol is being pulled in by the collar of his shirt and slammed against the door while Baekhyun opts to kiss the words right out of his mouth instead. His head is reeling from the assault but soon his hands are clinging onto Baekhyun's hips for dear life and all concerns go flying out the window. Into the abyss.

"God, you look good with that hair, it's like I'm discovering a whole new world," the shorter purrs against his mouth, biting down onto the taller's lower lip in a way that has him seeing stars. It was like this the last time Baekhyun had his lips on his, too - and the time before that, and the time before that; it had felt like Baekhyun was carving out new galaxies across his skin.

Usually, Baekhyun's hands would be all in his hair: grabbing, pulling, destroying. Today they choose to roam his chest instead, slowly unbuttoning his grey silk shirt with elegant fingers in order to spare Chanyeol's nicely styled locks. The latter tries not to mourn the loss too much.

Since 'that night' this has become their daily routine: ignore each other during the day, make up for it during the night. It's a cycle that resets itself each morning, in which Chanyeol is shoved out of Baekhyun's room in the early hours "just to be safe" and the taller has to battle boredom and Baekhyun's feigned indifference towards him for hours on end before he can finally have the shorter to himself again. As time passes, the days grow longer and the itch in his fingers that beg to set the hands of the clock forward to a time when he can have a taste of the Captain again only grows stronger. The longing for the feeling of completion aches within his bones. The thirst for soft skin beneath his fingertips, scars across a broad chest and midnight stars hidden in darkened pupils consume him. He curses his growing greed; it should never have gotten to this point. He should never have gotten so attached to this feeling - whatever it is. Need? Want? Safety? But, of course, it's out of his control - it's not a choice to become so addicted to the Captain's glinting eyes. They're all encompassing. But Chanyeol knows they are also poisonous. And they will be his downfall.

"Thought you would like it," he breathes in amusement, silly grin painted across his face as the Captain of the Exodus kisses down his neck: biting, marking, claiming. "Saw you glancing at me one too many times more than usual." The feral growl that rumbles against his neck has Chanyeol's pants tightening impossibly. He tastes stardust on his tongue. Moonlight in his lungs. 

"Kris seemed to like it quite a lot too."

"Oh, really?" the taller muses, taking in a few deep breaths to stop himself from chuckling or else he knows he'd be thrown out within a heartbeat. And then he'll never get another chance to revel in the feeling of Baekhyun setting his nerves alight. "I didn't even notice."

Baekhyun glares up at the fiery haired male. Chanyeol's eyes are glazed over, his pupils blown wide with wonder. Baekhyun would find him slightly endearing if he wasn't such an infuriating bastard. "Don't play dumb with me. I saw the way you looked at him." he hisses, dragging his teeth over already bruising skin as he speaks. Every inch of flesh he traces with a sinful stroke of his tongue is a new conquest, new land to call his own. His and no one else's.

This time Chanyeol does chuckle. It's a low and breathless sound and Baekhyun feels the vibrations of it against his chest.

Chanyeol's hands are cold as he presses them against Baekhyun's jaw, forcing him to look upwards at him, but they still burn against his skin anyway.

"Captain Byun," the addressed shivers at the sound of the syllables that tumble from his conquest's throat, "could you possibly be jealous right now?" Another chuckle leaves the taller male as a calloused thumb gently swipes over soft, swollen lips. Infatuated eyes track its path with hunger.

Baekhyun hopes Chanyeol doesn't notice his flush in the dark unlit room as he grapples desperately at his dissipated dignity. "I just don't want Kris to be forgetting his alliances by frolicking around with our prisoner," he hisses, resorting to harsh words when he knows not what else to say. His eyes trail over Chanyeol's bobbing adam's apple, the light sheen decorating his forehead and the bruises colouring his skin from the last time - and the time before that and the time before that. He looks nothing short of a masterpiece but Baekhyun will be damned before he lets any of his inner thoughts be heard.

Chanyeol is not deterred in the least as he leans down to take the Captain's lower lip between his own, sucking ever so lightly. Baekhyun's breathing quickens and his toes curl. "Isn't that what you are doing right now, Captain Byun?" The intimacy of the taller's gesture has warmth blooming under Baekhyun's flesh and his lungs scream for air. Distance. Space.

But his surroundings are nothing but space. It's been a constant in his life for a long time and he really ought to be sick of it by now but he doesn't know how to turn off the alarm bells ringing in his head. 'Don't let him close. Don't let him in. He's going to ruin you,' they screech. He almost listens to them. But Chanyeol is so, so warm under his fingertips and so Baekhyun pulls him impossibly closer even though every fibre of his being tries to protest. He doesn't know why he keeps trying to relapse back to what's familiar when all he's ever craved is right in front of him.

( He briefly wonders whether Chanyeol, with his eyes innocent like a child's and questions that slowly unwrap Baekhyun's bandaged essence, even has the capacity to ruin him. The thought almost reminds him of trust. )

He resumes his job of ridding the other male of his shirt. "I am the Captain and I can very much do whatever I please. Now stop talking and fucking kiss me."

The first piece of clothing flutters to the floor and is discarded without a second thought, joining Chanyeol's self-control.

It feels like Baekhyun's mask coming undone.

//

"I really wish you'd stop vandalising my ship," Kyungsoo sighs out the next morning, perched on the edge of the Captain's lavish bed, sinking slightly into the foam of an unnecessarily soft mattress as he looks down at the broken lighting cylinder by his feet. He speaks as if it physically pains him to have to witness even a small part of the Exodus being damaged, but then again, his powers enable him to be somehow connected with the very metal that forms the Exodus, he can feel every pulse of every current and every spark of life within the ship, so it is not such an implausible sentiment.

Baekhyun bristles from his place in the corner of the room. He is a spider in black, aura dark as he rests against the wall nearest his ensuite. He looks unimpressed. "Your ship you say?" 

"Our ship," Kyungsoo corrects himself, voice as sickly sweet as the smile he paints across his plump lips. Baekhyun isn't any more pleased. Kyungsoo - either unaware of or choosing to ignore the Captain's scowl - shifts his attention to playing with the streaks of violet light that snake and curl themselves around his forearms, dancing gracefully along his skin. It reminds him of a certain tanned man waiting for him back home.

The room is dark and unlit besides the brightness that filters out of Kyungsoo's palms and the single candle that flickers on the Captain's wooden desk, a contrast to the dark aura rolling off the latter in waves. "Can you hurry up? I asked you ages ago to come fix my lights and you choose to drop in whenever it suits you," the huff that leaves Baekhyun's lips is nothing short of bratty. It almost surprises Kyungsoo when there's not as much bite to his words as usual. He forgot the Captain was capable of being anything but unpleasant and snappish.

Kyungsoo clicks his tongue in a show of mild irritation. He enjoys taking the time to warm up his powers before getting straight to the task. His powers are not a part of him, they are a gift bestowed upon him, they are alive and thus need to be coaxed and persuaded to work with him. He twiddles his fingers lightly to manipulate the light between them, directing them to the newly replaced lighting cylinders on the ceiling above, working on pushing the whirring electricity into them. He feels it thrumming through the ship, senses the pulse of current under the pads of his fingers; it flows in time with the blood that courses through his veins. "If you hadn't thrown your sword at my poor lights this wouldn't have happened.

"I was in a mood," Baekhyun mumbles, his face colouring so faintly Kyungsoo blames the illusion on the dim lighting.

"You always are," he sighs in response.

There is a short pause as the Technician focuses on wiring the electricity properly. The Exodus is a temperamental ship - much like Her Captain - but he manages to make the light glow and illuminate the room while the Captain shifts his weight from foot to foot, for once not lost in the depths of his mind. The latter hisses as his pupils attempt to adjust to the sudden luminosity. "Care to make the lights a little dimmer? Us humans can't stand such intense light, unlike you."

The lights immediately dim after some more of Kyungsoo's tinkering but not before the man lets out an incredulous hum. "Strange. Thought you would've been used to it by now." He has the nerve to side eye the Captain, voice carrying a touch of mockery. "Unless Chanyeol said something to you that you actually took on board?"

Much to the alien's surprise, Baekhyun starts spluttering, his face turning red in a way that Kyungsoo does not think is normal. "Are you choking or is this a human thing-"

"I'm fine." Baekhyun insists, a beat too quick. He clears his throat and settles his features back into his regular stoic expression despite the burn in his cheeks. "And I'm not a complete monster I would like to make this ship a more comfortable place to live for the people aboard."

"Strange, indeed," Kyungsoo muses, obtuse suspicion bleeding into his voice as he flops back on Baekhyun's bed, letting the extra fluffy pillows devour him and congratulate him on another job well done.

Baekhyun is swift to snap back in his own defence. "How so?" He wonders fleetingly if Chanyeol has complained of him to Kyungsoo during one of their midnight snack sessions, wonders if they're even still carrying on with that arrangement. The thought alone has his fingertips prickling.

Kyungsoo eyes him with such wariness that the Captain wishes he could take back his words. Whether he's onto him or not, he's not sure but he does know that he's treading on thin ice. "We both know you've not been the nicest host to Chanyeol-"

"He's our prisoner, Kyungsoo. He's not exactly here for us to be chummy with." Though they were said to try and dishearten the Technician's growing surmise, Baekhyun's own words cause him to chew on his lower lip while his stomach turns uncomfortably. He doesn't know if he's telling Kyungsoo off or if he's trying to remind himself of Chanyeol's purpose in his life. 

Glowing eyes fade back to their resting dark colour before rolling skywards, unaware of the Captain's shifting mood. "Maybe you should be nicer to the kid. I doubt you'll be spending much more time together anyway so I hope you can at least be civil for now."

The retort of 'we are being much more than just civil' dies on his tongue instantly. His eyebrows furrow together in confusion, a foretelling feeling of dread piling in his gut. "Why not?"

"Well, we received a telegram this morning. The army is willing to pay a ransom for his return."

//

It's only a few seconds after Kyungsoo leaves with a subtle smile and the door closes what a click that Chanyeol takes his cue and barges out of the ensuite.

Baekhyun doesn't even get to process his best friend's departure or his captive's entrance, too lost in his thoughts to notice either of them. The gap between his eyebrows only shortens in distance as he is suddenly shoved against the wall, pulling an unimpressed groan from his throat. But then a pair of warm lips are against his and he can't really bring himself to care anymore.

"God, I thought he'd never leave," a low voice reverberates against his mouth as calloused fingers snake themselves through Baekhyun's raven hair; the shorter male easily leans into the touch. Baekhyun squeezes his eyes shut at the sound of Chanyeol's voice, trying to lose himself in the kiss and let his rumbling baritone drown out all other distractions. But he can't. He can't when he feels as if he's been submerged underwater for hours on end, the pressure building up against his ribs unbearable. Chanyeol continuing to pepper his lips with short pecks that steal away what little reserves of air remain in his lungs isn't much help either. When they part for breath, Baekhyun is left with tingling lips and a sinking feeling in his chest. "I hope Kyungsoo's not too angry about that broken light."

Their breathless chuckles mingle and meld into a synchronised harmony at his little joke, despite Baekhyun's being a tad more strained, too breathy to be genuine. "He'll get over it," he assures him as he steals kisses of his own from chapped yet warm lips. He wants to stop thinking. He wants to lose himself. He wants to fall. His hands fist themselves at the hem of Chanyeol's shirt in desperation. Chanyeol doesn't notice.

"I didn't mean to make you mad last night," the taller tells him. His own form of an apology, the shorter suspects. "You're not actually as annoying as Jongdae." They hadn't spoken about it afterwards. Couldn't have after Baekhyun had so unceremoniously chased the taller out of his room in a fit of rage. Chanyeol had returned the next morning to collect the pants he'd been forced to leave behind with a sheepish smile, only to be pulled back into the room and under the sheets in the most innocent of ways by a half awake Baekhyun. He finds his persistent nightmares cease to plague him when Chanyeol is by his side.

"I didn't mean to throw my sword at you," Baekhyun whispers in mild amusement as the red haired man rests their foreheads together. The gesture makes kohl-rimmed eyes flutter lightly, his lips pressing together in a line. He still doesn't know how to handle such affectionate gazes and actions, still doesn't know the meanings behind Chanyeol's tender touches that seem to hold a lot more than just the need for one night of skin on skin. It feels different to the affections of his father who was always warm and loving because Chanyeol is nothing but hot and consuming. He doesn't know how to reciprocate it either, doesn't know how to react to it, doesn't know what to think of it. Not yet. Not after a lifetime of darkness. This bright light that has entered his life is nothing but foreign and now he fears he has no time left to get used to it.

"Yes, you did. You just didn't mean to miss so badly," the deep laugh that leaves Chanyeol's lips seeps into his skin, wraps around his heart and squeezes. He can't bring himself to say anything else. With a wave of unease washing over him and freezing in his veins, he realises that he might actually miss that stupid laugh if Chanyeol were to leave. He also realises that Chanyeol has to leave. 

The taller male frowns at his lack of response, usually Baekhyun is always ready with snarky remarks or - more recently - with puckered lips ready to shut him up for good. It's disconcerting and has unease of his own sinking into his heart.

"Baekhyun, what's wrong?" he asks, voice softer than latter thinks he deserves. Large hands cup his cheeks, tilting his gaze upwards to lock onto a concerned stare. Chanyeol is too at ease with touching him, Baekhyun thinks. He doesn't know if it's a concern or a comfort.

It's the same as it was back then; when they'd shared a night under the light of a thousand burning balls of gas and each other's blazing eyes. It's the same as it's always been; Baekhyun running and Chanyeol desperately trying to keep up with him. And he guesses it's the same as it always will be; Baekhyun catching a tiny glimpse of what happiness could be and then having it coldly ripped from his hands. He doesn't know if he should willingly give it up before it's taken from him - it might save him the unbearable pain he knows is coming.

"They want you back," he says in a voice so small Chanyeol almost can't believe his ears.

Despite his delayed reaction - he spent a while processing the words - the redhead's reply is simple. "So?" he questions with furrowed brows and a puzzled expression. A few weeks ago he would've jumped at the chance to have gone back home, but not anymore. Not when he's no longer sure whether there even is a home for him to go back to. Not when he's started to build a new one right here in the heart of space. The Exodus, the crew members, Kyungsoo, Baekhyun. He can't just leave them.

But Baekhyun is always suffering on his own, always trapped inside his own head and never taking a step back to think about how people other than him could be feeling so he doesn't understand Chanyeol; doesn't want to listen to his reasoning, won't take no for an answer. "Chanyeol you have to go back-"

"And just leave you here? Are you crazy?" the taller's voice is harsh as he cuts him off. It's verging on anger, Baekhyun can tell. He presses his lips together tightly at the prickling sensation he feels behind his eyelids. Though they've found ways to fit together, they've always naturally repelled each other. They were always bound to fall apart.

Chanyeol tries desperately to find Baekhyun's gaze but he's running again. He's always running. He closes his eyes, closes his heart, forces himself to stop falling though he can hardly even feel the ground beneath his feet anymore.

"Earth's your home. You have to go back-"

"But Baek-"

A shaky exhale silences the taller.

"Just please stop talking," Baekhyun begs, eyes drooping downwards in a way that Chanyeol has grown accustomed to finding endearing. The corners of his mouth droop down with them - a gesture that Chanyeol has grown to enjoy significantly less. The Captain tiptoes up to press his lips gently against the red head's, signalling the end of the conversation. When Chanyeol tries to hold firm, not responding to the soft brush of lips against his, Baekhyun only sighs quietly and presses harder, licking his way into the taller's mouth, erasing the tension in his shoulders with a single swipe of his tongue.

And then Chanyeol relents. He always relents. He always gives way to Baekhyun and his iron will, melts under his touch like molten metal and lets Baekhyun mould him into structures of his own pleasing. In this battle - because it is always a battle between the two of them - Chanyeol doesn't know who the winner is.

He was never one to relent and bend under anyone else's rules. Back on Earth, Chanyeol got everything he wanted, whenever he wanted, it was all handed to him on a silver platter and he'd never thought to give anything back, just thought it was the way things were supposed to be. He was always used to having all the power, having everyone falling at his feet but then he met Baekhyun.

Baekhyun, when he'd first met him, had not cared about who he was - had not even known who he was - he had only cared about his goal and how to use Chanyeol for his own benefit. Chanyeol had felt as if he'd been challenged for the first time in his life and though he had tried to fight against him, to show Baekhyun that he was a noble man who demanded respect, he realises now, as he allows Baekhyun to push him down onto his back and sink him into an overly soft mattress, that he has met his match. Maybe even lost to him.

He allows him to straddle his hips and kiss away all his weak protests. He allows Baekhyun to steal the air from his lungs to claim as his own. He allows Baekhyun to work him open with nimble fingers, slow and deep. He allows Baekhyun to mend his broken soul with the shattered pieces of Chanyeol's own; mix and match and piece together shattered fragments of two scattered hearts to make one single shared being. Because that's all they have the capacity for.

He gives Baekhyun - who has lost everything under the hands of the tormenting universe - an element of power, the power to control an aspect of his life. The power to control Chanyeol. Even if it's only for a little bit. Even if it's not much. It is all he needs.

//

At first, Chanyeol made Baekhyun feel nothing but livid anger. His hatred towards the taller's father had seemed to carry through a generation and while Baekhyun knew he couldn't blame him for the mistakes of his predecessor, it had turned out the that the bold and pompous Captain Park Jr. could anger him all on his own. Now, Baekhyun realises that anger was just the catalyst. Once the Captain's wrath was triggered, it gave way for a million other emotions: sympathy, anxiety, a warmth that he does not want to place. And life. Chanyeol makes him feel alive, reminds him he's actually human.

But now all Baekhyun feels is fear. He's scared his one chance at happiness is going to slip through his fingers again and he's going to let it. He's learned now that you can't defy what the universe has in plan for you. The blessed will continue to be blessed, Chanyeol will be saved from his clutches and he will return to his perfect life at home, while the cursed will continue to be cursed and Baekhyun will rot the rest of his life away in the bleak entity of space. Alone. 

//

That night, at dinner, Baekhyun does stay for dessert and he does allow himself a few fleeting glances in Chanyeol's direction. The taller has his hair quiffed up again today and his heart drums away in his chest without his permission when their gazes meet.

Clearing his throat and clearing his mind of round, penetrative orbs, Baekhyun stands up once everyone is full and satisfied. He gains their attention easily.

"We'll be making a stop tomorrow," he announces coolly as he straightens out his black dinner jacket before shifting his gaze to Kyungsoo, "to Technos, in fact. It's not far from here, so put the Exodus on a flight path to there. We're going to be taking a well-needed pitstop."

The room erupts in cheers at the thought of having a vacation after being in Space for so long, the thought of well-needed rest, interactions with other lifeforms outside of the crew, and more booze having the pirates buzzing. Many of the crew are from Technos - Kris and Junmyeon for example - and their faces beam with brilliant rays of happiness at finally being able to visit home after so long. Chanyeol smiles too, though he wonders why Baekhyun's face remains stoic and his eyes so downcast.

"Finally, it's been so long," Kyungsoo says with a wistful sigh by his side, disrupting Chanyeol's chain of thought. He smiles in his direction with glee, a gesture that the redhead can't help but return. "I can't wait to introduce you to my lover! His name is Jongin, I'm sure you'll love him."

His easy grin seems genuine enough but you can never be sure with Kyungsoo, he's an awfully good actor. Technicians aren't really one with their emotions, they're one with machines, technology, electricity. They have heightened senses, can detect ruptures in motors from a mile away, can tell when a person is on the edge of collapsing by studying the electrical impulses in their nervous systems but are unable to feel much for themselves. This doesn't mean that they can't convey feelings though. He can meld expressions and emotions over his features, mould them into believable stories like he could a sheet of metal - like an act in which he is both the puppet and the puppeteer. A smile to show he's happy, a frown to show he's sad, Kyungsoo works like a fine-tuned computer, running on algorithms.

Chanyeol seems to buy his act easily but that's only because he doesn't see the way Kyungsoo lets his mask slip, a frown taking the place of his once toothy grin when he locks eyes with Baekhyun.

Just what are you planning, Captain? He wonders, eyes squinting slightly as a wave of anxiety washes over him. Their next pit stop was scheduled to be on Mars some time next week. What could have caused the Captain to have changed his mind so suddenly?

//

Technos is one of the most developed ecosystems in the entire galaxy, Chanyeol is told by Baekhyun after the ship has docked. Not only are they the most technically advanced, but they're also the most socially advanced. Their people's ability is that they are one with technology and can craft metal into the finest of sculptures with a single touch, but their strength as a nation is that they believe in equality and fairness and such things as class or status or past mistakes don't divide them. This is why the pirates - outlawed by the Intergalactic Government - are welcomed there.

All the other pirates had already cleared off the ship a while ago, sprinting for the nearest night club or brothel with telecommunicators ringing in their ears and excitement singing in their blood. It is only Baekhyun and Chanyeol left aboard but despite being alone, the former still warily seems to be keeping his distance which irks his companion to no end.

With a sly smile, Chanyeol sneaks over to the smaller's side and links their pinky fingers together. He pretends to look away somewhere in the middle distance as he whistles in an act of nonchalance when Baekhyun whips around to shoot him a look of bewilderment.

"You'll have to take me to the nearest bar," Chanyeol muses after Baekhyun quickly tugs his hand away, scowling. "Maybe you'll loosen up with some alcohol in your system."

The Captain ignores his remark and scoffs quietly. "Loosen up, my ass."

He realises his mistake as soon as those words leave his lips and when he sees Chanyeol's eyes light up. The latter moves in closer to him, patting his said ass tenderly. Baekhyun's body temperature hikes up a few degrees higher. "Already done, sweetheart." 

The Captain can do nothing but swat the taller away like he is a swarm of raging flies before storming away with a huff, leaving his - not so unwilling - hostage bent over double laughing. "H-Hey, Baek wait up!" he calls between wheezes. Baekhyun doesn't hear him over his flustered grumbling.

//

After coming down from his little fit of rage, Baekhyun and Chanyeol find themselves walking down a busy street, the ever stoic Captain letting his cold facade drop for a second as he tells his companion about all his past life on Technos. The wind is warm and the two suns of Technos are shining bright and majestic in the paling sky, but all Chanyeol can focus on is the light, accidental brush of Baekhyun's hand against his. He wants to reach out and entwine their fingers together but holds still for fear of yet another rejection.

"And this restaurant is where I worked as a bus boy for around 4 moon cycles," Baekhyun says pointing at a thriving family diner with a fond little smile. "It was my first job after I got to Technos. I quit it after that because I was offered more money working at a nearby brothel-" His voice trails off as his light fades away from his face. Chanyeol's heart lurches in his chest. His eyes flash with something similar to fury at the universe for the ceaseless torture it plagues upon Baekhyun's life. His eyes are hard but his hands are gentle as he pulls Baekhyun in from around the shoulders, wordlessly brushes his lips against his temple.

The tenderness of the gesture takes Baekhyun aback and he has to pull away, dropping his act like a hot potato as a cheeky smile eats away at his face. "I only worked as a receptionist, you dumbass." Chanyeol just blinks.

The dumbfounded look on the fiery haired male's face makes Baekhyun laugh, if only to try and drown out the hammering of his blood against his ears. "Do you really think I'd give myself away to people so easily? Who do you think I am?" Ever the stuck up little shit, Captain Byun lifts his nose up high in the air in a way that has Chanyeol's laugh blending in with his in a lovely duet. "I'm Captain Byun of the Exodus. I am untouchable," his high and mighty gaze falters slightly and Chanyeol's eyes tune into the gentle yet rapid fluttering of long, dark eyelashes. Up and down, up and down, much like their jumbled up feelings towards one another. "Well, untouchable to all but some."

A beam blossoms across Chanyeol's face. The taller man wraps strong arms around his captor's waist and pulls him in close, burying his face into his neck and even though a breathless Baekhyun goes stiff in his arms, not used to this kind of contact in any other setting besides dark nights in his bedroom, Chanyeol doesn't let go. They're on a foreign planet, all the other men of the Exodus have long since made themselves scarce and there is nothing to stop Chanyeol from doing whatever he wants, without reservations, without second guessings. There is no one there to see the way Baekhyun prays to the Deities for mercy. "God, you're so sexy when you're full of yourself." The Captain's stomach flops uselessly at his feet but he forces a pompous smile to keep their banter going.

"You know, more patrons came to stare at me working the front desk instead of actually booking a room." Chanyeol hums disbelieving into his ear and when Baekhyun yells again and again that "it's true, I tell you!" there is hardly any conviction in his words.

//

"Technos is where I spent most of my time after I escaped from space prison," Baekhyun says conversationally. It is just past mid day and the sweltering heat is getting to both of them, but even under the blinding rays of twin suns, the shorter can see the way Chanyeol's face darkens at the mention of the place his own father's actions had sent him. Baekhyun tries to ignore it. Just like he tries to ignore the sweat glistening along his hostage's collarbones. Both prove to be harder than he'd originally estimated. "It's like my second home."

"Where's your first?" Chanyeol asks, voice thick and heavy with an emotion Baekhyun can't bring himself to place. "Earth?"

"Hardly," he scoffs, "my time on Earth was nothing but dull and tortuous." A wistful look crosses his features and his eyes cloud over as he looks up into the clear sky. It is not a pale blue like it is back on Earth. Here on Technos, the light refracts and scatters in such a way that the sky is forever washed in a pastel purple tint. It's a befitting colour, Baekhyun thinks, remembering eyes that flare violet and bored into his with suspicion. The breeze rustles his raven hair ever so lightly, the only part of him that has managed to remain untouched and unaltered throughout his life, and Chanyeol lets his breath fly away with the wind when Baekhyun turns to him with lost eyes, eyes lost to his memories, to another time, to another place. "The sea was my first home," he whispers. "The sea was my first heartbreak."

Chanyeol's fingers ache to reach out to him, to hold onto him and offer him some form of comfort but he knows Baekhyun would never accept it, would push him away with a small smile that makes as if he bears entire worlds on his shoulders. He doesn't know what else he can do though, doesn't know how else he can soothe Baekhyun's aches, doesn't know how else he can tell Baekhyun he's here - he's listening, he cares - without facing the sting of dismissal. He can do nothing but look at the man with such confliction that Baekhyun has to turn away. "I guess Space is my third home, now," he says with an exhale. "Though it is bleak and lonely, it has done me no harm and I have accomplished more out there than I have my whole life."

'Can I be your home too?' Chanyeol wants to ask. "Why don't you just go back?" he says instead. "I mean you don't even have to go back to civilisation on Earth, you could just sail the seas. You know, find your peace there and all that."

Baekhyun's glances up at the giant who looks like a little boy asking too many questions about the big and strange universe. There's a reason children are born into this world dumb and innocent, it's to protect their goodness. If they were to learn of the injustices of the world then that would crush their view on it; crush their purity. Baekhyun almost doesn't want to answer. "It's better for me out there; in the abyss. No one will disturb me and I'll be out of harm's way."

"You just want to quietly rot away out here?"

"Essentially," thin lips painfully stretch themselves upwards. He's making an attempt to smile, but Chanyeol has never seen someone looking so forlorn. "It would be me doing the universe a favour. I'm a waste of space. Living but not alive. A waste of God's creation."

Chanyeol has to hold his tongue, has to tread carefully around the topic. He has to dance heedful circles around Baekhyun who is like a spooked animal. One wrong move and he'll bolt, end the conversation, shoot Chanyeol down. "You believe in God?"

To Chanyeol's relief, the raven haired male does none of the above and instead shakes his head. "No God would put me through this sort of hell. If there is a God out there, they must have decided that I'm not worth it. They've forsaken me and I them."

//

The bar they enter is run down and few people are there but it's warm and cozy and Baekhyun said it was a place he used to frequent often so Chanyeol doesn't really mind. He's happy the smaller is sharing another part of himself with him. He wonders how much more he can learn about the Captain today with the downing of another shot. Maybe his third - fifth? - of the night. From the nearby window, the pinkish hues of the oncoming sunset can be seen and the colours fit beautifully across Baekhyun's side profile. He is perched on the bar stool next to him, smooth fingers painting clear circles around the rim of his untouched drink.

"Come on, Baekhyun, I wanted you to loosen up and have a drink but it seems like I'm the only one doing so," Chanyeol whines before gesturing at the green skinned barkeep serving them for another refill. He's nowhere near drunk but the short chuckle Baekhyun lets out does have him feeling a little dizzy.

"I used to work nights here, you know," he says smoothly, saccharine beats of his honey velvet voice blending in with the quiet music that filters through the speakers. He gestures around them, at the small stage set up nearer the back of the bar and at the aliens who stumble out the toilets with boisterous guffaws, before stealing the shot of purple liquid from Chanyeol's reach, swallowing it down his already burning throat.

Chanyeol lifts an intrigued eyebrow at him, unfazed over his stolen drink. "Bartender?"

The shorter shakes his head, dark eyes glinting. "Singer."

The redhead's jaw drops open in disbelief. "You sing?" Baekhyun nods with a little grin. It soon slips off his face, disappearing like tides erase footprints imprinted in sand as his line of sight settles somewhere over Chanyeol's shoulder. The latter is too excited to notice. "Huh, who'd have thought? You'll have to let me hear someday."

Chanyeol turns back to his companion when he doesn't get a reply after a few beats of silence. He notices, now. He notices how Baekhyun's pale hands shake around his glass that he clings onto for dear life, how Baekhyun’s lips press white against each other as Chanyeol's questioning eyes bore into him and how he looks at the taller crestfallen, eyes swimming with guilt and a lump in his throat that he just can't seem to get rid of no matter how many shots he swallows. But there is also another emotion in Baekhyun's gaze that Chanyeol is quick to place, it's tender and gentle in the way he sweeps his line of sight over his face, as if memorising all the different curves and angles that make up his hostage. It feels like a bitter goodbye.

"Baekhyun, are you ok?"

His throat burns, the backs of his eyes burn, his chest burns. He's not ok.

Chanyeol looks at him with narrowed eyes, unsure why Baekhyun is suddenly tearing his stare away from him and rubbing at his watering eyes. But then he catches a glimpse of royal azure edging closer to them and his world shatters.

"Baekhyun-" he breathes. Betrayal poisons his blood. It sinks into the bottom of his heart and bleeds into his blood. It numbs him to the core so that he can't feel anything, neither in his fingertips nor in his chest. The situation feels so surreal. A part of him desperately wishes this were all a dream, that Baekhyun hasn't actually done this, that this was all some kind of sick joke. He suspects this is the feeling Baekhyun has had to live with his entire life.

Even now, until the bitter end, he is trying to understand Baekhyun. Baekhyun who is still so beautiful even as tears brim his eyes and he gets up shakily from his bar stool. Baekhyun who will always push him away no matter how hard he tries to get close.

"You have to go home. I can't keep dragging you down with me," his voice is a shaky whisper that breaks along with Chanyeol's heart. It is suspended in the air for a single second and then falls and shatters against the floor when a man dressed in an all too familiar navy garb shows up by his side. And then another and another. It feels like an arrest.

Chanyeol's eyes flicker between the men in blue that have come to take him and the man that is about to let them. Late nights, early mornings, Baekhyun's lips on his; it all seems like it's being thrown out the window. He remains mute as the sailor salutes him, lips pressing into a thin line as he forces a nod back in acknowledgement. His eyes, blazing with a concoction of anger, hurt, betrayal and confusion, never leave Baekhyun. The man in blue's don't either.

"Captain Park, it's good to see you healthy. My name's Lieutenant Kim." Chanyeol's eyes narrow slightly as the sailor's two partners take steps closer to Baekhyun. Something rings through him but he is too numb to act on it immediately. The sailor on Baekhyun's right reaches for something inside his pocket and all of a sudden Chanyeol realises this is all wrong. His eyes widen with panic as alarm bells blare within his mind. His gaze searches for no one but Baekhyun. Baekhyun, who can't even look at him, can't look up, can't sense the danger that Chanyeol suddenly can. "Thank you for bringing leading criminal to us."

"Baekhyun!"

A needle of clear, malevolent liquid is plunged into the Captain's neck before Chanyeol can even get the last syllable of his name out. He tries to jump out his chair, onto his feet, to Baekhyun's side but another two naval sailors manifest out of thin air to grab onto his arms, grips stronger than his desperation as Baekhyun's body falls limp and into the hands of the man who he'd wrongly thought was here to take him away.

"Let him go!" Chanyeol spits, only earning himself a disparaging look from the Lieutenant. He feels trapped and useless and used all over again, like he had the first time he'd been dragged onto the Exodus.

He stares at Baekhyun in aggravation, with his dark eyelashes pressed lightly against pale white cheeks. ‘You beautiful fool.’ It is all the motivation he needs to the jab both the men who hold him still in the gut with his elbows, sending them stumbling backwards with twin groans. Spinning around and breathing harshly, he seethes. He feels his blood boil with an inferno of anger as he whips out his silver revolver and aims it at the Lieutenant, right between his eyes where his target cries for him to hit home. The high and mighty bravado crumbles away when the burly man flinches at the sight of the weapon. British Navy sailors are all the same; scared of conflict, scared of guns. Chanyeol's glad he's gotten over his fear.

"Now, now, Captain Park, you wouldn't actually turn a gun on one of your own would you?" Lieutenant Kim says to him, voice steady but his eyes widen in the subtlest acts of fear. Chanyeol can read such signs easily now after having spent ages trying to decipher entire stories in the way Baekhyun so much as tossed his hair "All this for a mere criminal? Seems a little much, don't you think?"

The way the man of lower rank spits out the degrading word triggers Chanyeol to click the gun off of safety. Pure wrath is in his eyes. It seems he's picked up a few things from Baekhyun. "Let him go. You barely have the authority to persecute him."

The Lieutenant, though held at gun point is as pompous and infuriating as all the other sailors back home. His stomach churns at the thought of how he was once like this too. "True true, but we can hand him into the intergalactic space police. Lord only knows that they'd pay a hefty sum for him after all the crimes he's committed and all the times he's gone against the government. He hijacked another spaceship just a few weeks ago, didn't he?" A few weeks. It's been a few weeks since they raided that alien ship. Since they freed a dozen children from a life of being trafficked. His blood boils. They don't know him. They have no right to put a price on his head. They have no right to talk about Baekhyun as if they knew him. It is a right that Chanyeol and only Chanyeol has earnt.

His finger twitches over the trigger. Bullets scream for the taste of blood. "So you're kidnapping him just so you can sell him to the intergalactic council. Do you have a warrant for that?"

"Do you have a warrant for that?" the Lieutenant seethes, gesturing with his chin at the gleaming weapon held in steady, sure hands. Chanyeol grits his teeth, a muscle jumping in his cheek. All the other sailors stand back, hands raised in the air as Chanyeol flits his raging gaze over them.

"Things are different out here in space."

"Clearly. And clearly, your captors have gotten into your head. Well, 4 months aboard a pirate ship should do those things to you." 4 months? So long already? "It's such a shame," the man says, one corner of his lip curling upwards in a show of irritation. Chanyeol gets ready to paint that look with red. "Your father was such a good man. He would be so disappointed in you."

The scorned Captain can't even get in another word before he feels a mind numbing pain hitting him against the back of his head, searing through his nerves all the way down to the base of his spine. He falls to the ground with a howl, only managing to catch the sight of one of the Lieutenant's sidemen gripping onto a broken beer bottle that drips with crimson anguish. His vision blurs and the sounds around him start to ebb away, like he is being submerged underwater, unable to hear words spoken above the surface. He curses his weakness. ‘Get up, get up. Baekhyun. You have to save him.’

"Let's go, boys, we've got what we came here for." He tries to cry out, to curse the bastards to Earth and back but all he manages to get out is a mangled groan of pain as a wave of agony wracks through him.

"And the Captain, sir?"

"He was a useless Captain. Weak. The Navy won't miss him. If I'm lucky, I'll get to take over his ship as a reward for having captured such a high profile criminal. Show his low-life crew what a real Captain should be like." The last thing Chanyeol hears before he blacks out is the Lieutenant's cold laugh.

He now understands Baekhyun's thirst for revenge.


	6. Chapter 6

Chanyeol comes to with raging headache and a pair of panicked doe eyes hovering over his face. Flashing irises flit across his features, flooded with silent screams of confusion and concern but Chanyeol is unable to register anything other than the deafening ringing in his ears

He is quick to realise that he's in an unfamiliar place, resting on an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar situation but the figure, who is familiar to him, keeps the wave of panic working its way up the back of his throat at bay. Not for long, though. Kyungsoo's mouth moves at rapid fire, pain bleeding into his expression in a way Chanyeol has never seen it before. The red haired male is unable to hear him, his ears drowning out all sounds, only giving way to suffocating white noise that overpowers the tiny man's tired vocals. Chanyeol can do nothing but frown back in response.

Another character waltzes their way into the skit amid the chaos. Dark eyes set against dark skin dart between Chanyeol and Kyungsoo belonging to a tall, tanned figure who moves to stand at the latter's side. His eyes are riddled with worry. Chanyeol registers how his mouth moves too: slower than Kyungsoo's; taking his time to form each syllable and let it flow from his tongue, lips steadily forming calmer words that he is better able to decipher. "Kyungsoo, calm down," they say in contrast to the latter's frenzied monolougue.

Kyungsoo only fires up, a flurry of scathing sparks as he hisses out words of anger at the male. His feral eyes float decibels above the buzzing in Chanyeol's ears whose temperamental hearing holds up long enough to catch onto the enraged growl of, "Jongin."

This allows the red-haired male to finally fit together some pieces of a blurred out and scattered puzzle. This unfamiliar place is probably Jongin's or Kyungsoo's - or Jongin-and-Kyungsoo's - home and they had probably come to retrieve him from the bar after all hell had broken loose in it. At least, for Chanyeol it had been hell.

( "Don't tell me to calm down, Jongin! I don't know where Baekhyun is. What if something's happened to him? There were witnesses of a disturbance in the bar they were in and when I got there- I could only found Chanyeol knocked out and Baekhyun was nowhere to be seen I- Jongin I have to find him." )

Piercing ringing soon fades into a frenzied babbling voice and Chanyeol is forced to recall the distressingly blurred events of the not-so-distant past while bearing through the sound of Kyungsoo coming undone. He shifts his gaze away. Wishes for the peace that silence had brought him.

Clouded over eyes move to look out the window, skimming over the melodramatic show of the couple in front just as Jongin darts out a hand to grab Kyungsoo's arm, only to have it furiously wrenched from his grip. Chanyeol's heart gives a heavy pang as he can only imagine the way Jongin's face could have fallen at the rejection, a feeling the red head has become too well acquainted with lately.

Beyond the window, the twin suns are on the verge of setting, just like they had been at the bar when everything that could have gone wrong did. It has either been a few hours or an entire day since Baekhyun's capture. He's not sure which setting is more unsettling. Chanyeol screws his eyes shut, blocking out the sights and sounds and smells around him, blocking out the flurry of events seamlessly playing out behind his closed eyelids, like a movie that was given the wrong kind of ending. He wishes to stay like this, in the darkness, in the silence, in the emptiness. He wishes to pretend like none of this ever happened. If he imagines hard enough he can almost smell the sea breeze, almost can stretch out and feel the soft prevailing wind against his flesh, can almost remember his life before Baekhyun.

Baekhyun.

The cursed name alone has him feeling as if a knife were being plunged into his chest by an invisible hand with unfathomable motives, repeatedly, mercilessly.

Merciless.

He could laugh at the word itself.

It's something he's always described Baekhyun as.

Merciless in the way he kills without a second thought, merciless in the way he has let rage and loneliness devour him whole, merciless in the way he takes it all upon himself and doesn't let anyone else help carry his burden. Merciless in the way he decided what was best for Chanyeol on his own and merciless in the way he allowed himself to get tangled up in the trap he'd helped set. Whichever way fate would have decided to have played out the whole situation, Chanyeol reckons he still would've ended up with Baekhyun slipping through his fingers.

Merciless in the way he can never leave Chanyeol's mind, the latter reckons too. Merciless in the way he still has such a strong grip around his heart, despite all the feelings poisoning his blood. Vengeance. Anger. Confusion. Betrayal. Among these, even now, the longing for the man who had wanted to throw him away still prevails, still resounds within him above all else. The man once and twice thrown away balls his fists into white bed sheets in aggravation. After all he'd done to try and get to know Baekhyun, all he'd done to try and pry away pieces of him to keep in exchange for the offering of his own, the stubborn man had thought he could just easily erase it all with one rocket ride back to Earth and demons in blue.

"Baekhyun," Chanyeol musters out the only word he can think of, the name that sings throughout his entire body and simultaneously boils his blood. It immediately catches Kyungsoo's attention, who whips his head around to look at him, the red head's deep baritone having cut off his previous words, leaving them hanging from his lips like a noose that swings in the wind. They die out as does the look in Kyungsoo's eyes when the other speaks up again. "They took him."

Chanyeol, for some reason, expects the Captain's closest friend to let out a broken sob, to break down, to scream, to shout, to bury his small face into his lover's chest and give way to the pain that must surely be overtaking every nerve of his body. But he does none of the above. Instead, he looks at Chanyeol with an expression of steel and presses a finger against the telecommunicator in his ear. Every single crew member of the Exodus had been issued one before leaving the ship and told to never remove it, to always be on standby. Chanyeol guesses this isn't the first time the Captain's gotten himself into such a scrape on one of their pit stops.

( Chanyeol hadn't been issued with one because it was assumed that he would be by the Captain's side at all times. What a joke that has become. )

"Vacation's been cut short," Kyungsoo says, voice and expression heavy. "I need everyone back on the Exodus in the next half hour." He must have gotten some complaints back from his ever playful crew mates for Chanyeol watches quietly as the unfeeling facade Kyungsoo had constructed morphs into one of fury. It is a look perfectly copied from the Captain himself. He bares his teeth and growls. "I said I want everyone back on that bloody ship ASAP. The Captain's been compromised."

He says no more as he rips the piece of technology from his ear and shifts his icy attention to Chanyeol, levelling him with a glower that isn't really meant for him.

"Can you walk?" he asks. Chanyeol can only manage a hesitant nod, taken aback by the other male's sudden change in demeanour. Late nights and warm cookies are paling memories in the harsh light of this reality. "Then we'll leave as soon as possible."

Kyungsoo turns on his heel, determination in his heart and a mission in his sight. He moves to get his things ready, pack them all up in his little rucksack that he'd been carrying with him when he'd gotten off the Exodus, never packing in it what's more than necessary since he knows he won't ever be sticking around for too long. A bronzed hand curls itself tightly around his forearm mid-movement, making him drop the possessions he was so hastily shoving back into his bag in surprise. He turns to see Jongin looking down at him, aura ablaze and beautiful inscriptions that crawl up the backs of his arms, snake over his shoulders and come to a halt at the base of his neck glowing a faint blue. He doesn't wrench himself away this time.

A Veni. Chanyeol is quick to identify him, having greatly expanded his knowledge of different species and planets after his 4 months aboard the Exodus. He thinks it makes sense now because Jongin does not at all look like Kyungsoo. He is much larger, much taller with skin the colour of caramel and blissful summer months. His eyes do not flash electrifying purple when experiencing extreme lashes of emotion or when playing with his powers like his smaller lover's do. Jongin's instead remain forever pitch black and look so utterly sad.

It is said that the Veni are the most beautiful creatures to walk this Universe. The spirals and patterns painted onto their bodies by the nonmaterial hands of the Divine who had blessed them serve as a mark of their race. Their forever radiating beauty can lure even the most purest of souls into a bottomless pit of lust and want for them. Many a Veni had been seen to sit on the thrones of planets all throughout the solar system, usually not rulers themselves as they were far too gentle for such a distressing lifestyle, but as consorts or spouses of Kings and Queens. They were said to have driven even the most powerful of rulers to the depths of madness with their ethereality. And that had been their downfall. Their race had become hunted out of a desperate need for them. Chanyeol remembers hearing tales of trafficking, murder and slavery rising to such terrifying rates that Venus has since become an abandoned planet as its population sought refuge elsewhere from the foreigners that would come to their land and steal their children away in the night. The remaining Veni now live scattered throughout the cosmos and are protected by the government.

"Don't go, Kyungsoo," the blessed child whispers. His voice is deep and sweet, perfectly made to be craved. Chanyeol thinks that while Jongin is so dazzling it is hard to look straight at him, he would much rather glare into smoky, kohl-rimmed eyes that haunt him even in the sweetest of dreams.

Kyungsoo however, in his fit of rage, is seemingly unaffected by his lover's charms. "What do you want me to do, Jongin? Leave him? Leave my friend?" He's shouting. He knows he's shouting. But for Technicians who are only capable of the most basic feelings, Kyungsoo can't manage anything else. Not even tears of frustration, not even grief or vengeance. Only anger that has no particular target, just anyone who crosses his path. And for Jongin, who blocks his road with his entire body and pleading eyes, Kyungsoo can show him no mercy.

But when the smaller's blind fury meets no opponent save for the undiluted sadness that exudes out from the pure soul Jongin bares clear for him to see, the Technician falters. "I don't want you to go again," his lover repeats. "Stop leaving me behind. This foreign world is even more unfamiliar without you here to ground me. I can't keep waiting for you all alone. I don't even know when you'll come back. I-" his breathing hitches and his lover seems to shatter with it. "Sometimes I worry if you'll ever come back."

Violet eyes flitter across the face they have been memorising, neglecting and relearning for so long now. The doe-eyed male bites his lip, torn as he reaches up to cup his lover's crestfallen face to feel skin smooth as rose petals kissing the pads of his fingertips. Chanyeol takes this as his cue to look away. This isn't a scene he should be allowed to witness. One that makes his heart ache in his chest for more reasons that one. "I'll be back. After this- after I come back this time, I'll never leave you again. I promise." Chanyeol swings his legs over the side of the bed and gets himself ready soundlessly. "I'm not going back to Baekhyun, that reckless little shit. He didn't even tell anyone where he was going, he didn't tell anyone - not even Chanyeol - what he was doing, he didn't even call for fucking backup in case it all went to shit. I hate him, I hate him so much, Jongin. Why can't he just trust, why can't he just stop bringing himself such pain-" his words are cut off by a lashing hiccup as he finally breaks down, only managing to shed a single tear while his small fists drum themselves against his gentle lover's chest in frenzy, asking again and again; "why why why?"

Chanyeol gazes out the window at the fading twin suns. He wonders why, too.

//

Chanyeol and Kyungsoo sit opposite each other on the Tube. It's a train that runs over the capital city of Technos, completely constructed out of glass and both males watch with distant thoughts obscuring their features as the city - glittering with all its colours and lights - passes them by, a million or so people going about their ordinary lives right underneath their feet. They marvel at the sight, get lost in it while they can for they do not know when they will next be back.

It's been a day.

Kyungsoo had told Chanyeol it had taken him a day to wake up. It had been a day since Baekhyun was taken. Anything could have happened to him in a day, he could have been tortured, he could have been handed over to the Intergalactic authorities already, he could be dead. The thought of the said man has Chanyeol's heart clenching along with his fists as conflicting, polar emotions take over him. He digs his nails into his palms, the acute pain distracting him from his more agonising thoughts if only for a brief second.

Kyungsoo is quick to pick up on the fiery haired male's distress, more in tune with other people's emotions than his own.

"You're angry," he states simply. In this moment, Chanyeol wishes that he were like Kyungsoo, a robot fashioned by the universe, built to build and programme technology without the need to deal with his own feelings. He wishes he could control his own mind and heart and keep the blind emtions seeping into his veins at bay.

"Am I?" the redhead asks gruffly. He doesn't look at the shorter, choosing to keep his focus on billboards and skyscrapers set against an inky indigo sky as they flicker by. Kyungsoo hugs his rucksack against his chest with Jongin's touch still lingering against his skin.

"You are," Kyungsoo replies simply, but then his eyebrows furrow and Chanyeol suddenly feels naked, as if all his thoughts are on display for Kyungsoo to see. He crosses his arms defensively across his chest. "But you're not angry at the enemy. You're angry at Baekhyun." The accusatory tone in his voice has Chanyeol gritting his teeth. He is not a Technician like Kyungsoo. He is a human and sometimes humans can't help feeling the way they feel. But he wouldn't expect anything that is not human to understand that.

Baekhyun was once my enemy, he wants to say, but he knows it's no longer true. He also knows it wouldn't help him in this situation. It's like how back on the Merida, if there were even a hint of someone thinking of attempting mutiny on board, Chanyeol would have had to have disposed of them right away. Someone's already tried to dispose of him once today, he doesn't wish it to happen a second time.

"That's strange considering the two of you-"

Chanyeol's blood runs cold and his attention is ripped from its place, buried deep in his thoughts.

"You know that we-"

"Were frolicking. Yes, I know. Sound travels, Chanyeol," he says with a quiet chuckle before the atmosphere turns sombre again, settling over them like a thick blanket of ash. The fiery haired male hates how the tips of his ears still manage to tinge red despite it all.

"But you're mad at him."

"Am I?" he repeats for a lack of anything else to say. He feels suffocated and squirms in his seat, he doesn't want to acknowledge anything, has been keeping the feelings repressed, trapped within himself since he'd woken up but they'd been eating away at him, trying to surface. And Kyungsoo, as always, tries his best to understand, tries his best to have empathy. He's great at figuring out other people's emotions, Chanyeol reckons, but understanding them is another job entirely.

The doe-eyed male releases a little sigh and Chanyeol mirrors him. "Baekhyun only meant the best by his actions, you know. He only wanted you to go home because-"

"Because he cares about me?" the taller snaps out before he can even catch himself. His eyes are trailed on the stars that twinkle in the distance, embedded in the colour of the night. Stars always look so beautiful from far away, the people who have not seen their true images are so easily fooled by them. But Chanyeol knows better. They are nothing but balls of burning gas. In this situation, Chanyeol knows better than Kyungsoo. "Is that it? To me, it felt a lot more like him trying to get rid of me because he thought things were getting too serious and it scared him."

He's said the words that have been needed to be said, the words that had been floating around in the back of his mind since he saw the first flash of blue, maybe even before that, maybe he had even felt the words, syllables, letters start to pile up on the tip of tongue, hidden behind his teeth since the first time Baekhyun had told him he had to go back home. He was fast to make his decision and Chanyeol's fast to speculate his own reasons as to why.

He takes in deep breaths to try and calm himself, the hurt mixing with the aggravation running in his blood. He remembers Baekhyun's eyes always fluttering away from him, always shutting him out, pupils focusing on anything else but him. He remembers Baekhyun turning him down every time he'd managed to gather up the courage to take a chance and reach out to him: pulling his hand away, always avoiding his lips in the broad daylight. He remembers only being permitted to hold his petite body at night, the only time when Baekhyun would actually admit to the fiery haired man, himself and everyone else who lived in their little world that he actually wanted and needed the latter to feel sane, just as much as he himself was needed by Chanyeol. He remembers memories drowned in blue and stained with red.

But then he also remembers Baekhyun's sad smile as he told him about the multiple places he'd once called home with his lips but never with his heart, he remembers Baekhyun in the bar, telling him about his singing, opening up to him, allowing him in and he remembers his cheeky grin as he teased him with light eyes that curled into breathtaking crescent moons.

The two men stay silent for the rest of the train ride and Chanyeol is almost thankful for it.

//

Baekhyun sleeps another wakeful night in his new, hostile environment: nightmares as dark as ever, shadows circling around him, cornering their prey before latching themselves onto his body to drain the life out from his tired body. He thinks he sees the end of his suffering in the tenebrosity, in the eerily comforting promise of an eternal rest. He thinks he sees a light at the end of the tunnel, coming to grant him the one thing he's been searching for his entire, half lived life; peace.

But it has come to offer him a different sort of salvation, breaking through the murky clouds of storm and thunder and melting away the monsters that lurk within them. Beams of brilliance brighten up the bleakness swallowing Baekhyun whole, washing him with a warmth that he now recognises like he would his own voice.

But when he opens his eyes, the light retreats like lightning; there one second and gone the next, leaving him to fend for himself amidst the darkness. A cold wave crashing against his heart.

Tears prick in his eyes as he finds it is not only the gloom that entraps him, but an entire steel cage that taunts him; a Captain once so free. Or at least that's how the world - so many worlds - had seen him. Chains encase his blackened wrists in their iron grip, clutching onto their treasure; their greatest catch. He is alone now, helpless, vulnerable and everything he'd vowed never to be ever again. All because he had tried to chase away - to push away - a source of redemption that had only wanted to save him.

Whilst dropping his head down to look at grimy, dungeon floors and digging his teeth into his lower lip to keep pathetic whimpers at bay, Captain Byun Baekhyun can do nothing but regret.

//

The Exodus is buzzing once again. But it's not with a buzz of excited chatter. It's a buzz of shared anger; shared bloodlust. Each pirate is decorated with weapons and artillery and each one only sees red. After having been updated on the current situation, the rebels of the Exodus gather around now in the communal hall and form a circle around Kyungsoo, positioned in the middle. They are all seething.

"I've set the Exodus on a course for Earth. We'll be there within a day. Once we land, I don't care about anything else; our only, sole focus is getting the Captain back," Kyungsoo declares, stepping forwards to organise the crew in Baekhyun's absence. He is not nearly as commanding and harsh as the other male is but his aura demands respect and attention, something that doesn't even need to be requested for the crew is already willing enough to hand it over.

Chanyeol sees a parallel in the two friends' style of leadership in their matching dark auras and eyes as well as in the way they enjoy riling up their men before a mission; it makes them seem like they know what they're doing. Like they can be trusted. But he has to wonder whether Kyungsoo really does know what he's doing or if this is another one of those fronts that he and the true Captain of the Exodus do so enjoy putting on. With that thought, another parallel uncovers itself.

"Is that your entire plan?" he asks, frowning from his place at the edge of the circle. He is rewarded with glinting glares from some of the men around him - the ones who'd never quite managed to warm up to him - but he grits his teeth and ignores them. No matter how much their hostility irks him, he does not wish to be a witness to their demise, which could practically be guaranteed if they were to go with this poor plan of attack. They can't save Baekhyun if they're all dead. "We can't go into this blind. They've probably kept Baekhyun in the dungeon at the main Navy base," he would know for he has put plenty of men down there himself, "it's going to be surrounded by armed guards and you want us to what? Just all dive in? That's suicide."

"What do you propose we do?"

Kyungsoo almost looks as betrayed as he sounds from his position at the centre of the circle; the centre of attention. The space in which he stands is reserved for the man with the highest authority aboard the ship. All men look to the middle, all men look forwards to see their temporary leader being questioned, doubted. Some start to doubt too.

"I propose-"

"I'm not taking orders from him," a voice, who is surprisingly not Jongdae barks out, cutting off Chanyeol's next words. He looks over at the latter with an expression filled with scorn and contempt. The iciness of his voice is quick to spread and infect others, chilling their bodies, freezing their hearts. "He's the whole reason our Captain got captured in the first place. Who knows whether or not he was working with the sailors who took Byun. We can't trust him. We should just end him right now."

A quiet chorus of agreement ripples through the gathering of frenzied pirates. It is not a large number of pirates who nod their heads and snarl in Chanyeol's direction, it is nowhere near enough to be the majority, but it is enough. Enough to accelerate the spread of unease that rocks the ship.

Anger and resentment sings through the bodies of the rebels and with nowhere to direct it, Chanyeol takes the role of their scapegoat.

"I can assure you all Chanyeol hasn't done such a thing," snaps the doe-eyed man in the centre to the men he is rapidly losing control over.

"Why not? Because he was the Captain's little fucktoy?"

Chanyeol pretends like that one doesn't sting.

In fact, he pretends like nothing fazes him at all. 4 months aboard the ship, surrounded by facades and hidden truths has almost made him forget that he's just as good at pretending as Kyungsoo and Baekhyun are. He hardens his posture, rolls his shoulders back and pushes his chest out to the heavens just as he'd been trained to do his entire life, taking on the stance of a man who wields all the power in the world despite not physically possessing even an ounce of it.

"We cannot let ourselves become divided in a time like this!" he bellows, swallowing down his frustration. After thinking he was actually making some progress in getting these people to warm up to him, he is punched in the gut with reality. His father can fail him, Baekhyun can fail him, the people he thought were his friends and the places he thought were his home could fail him. But prejudice could never fail him.

His hands are balled tightly by his sides as he strides into the centre of the circle, crossing into holy territory, stepping over the threshold as if it were no big feat. It isn't but he feels the entire atmosphere drop in temperature. "We all have one goal, we want the Captain back so please let's put aside our differences and work together. I am a naval Captain I know-"

"There's no point flashing your high status and pretty title here, human. We aren't the sailors you reign over," a shrill voice - that actually is Jongdae this time - cries out amidst the growing tension and steadily increasing volume of doubtful murmurs. Chanyeol's never particularly liked Jongdae and Jongdae's never particularly liked Chanyeol, either. The taller just hopes that the man likes Baekhyun enough to put their bad blood aside.

"You're right," Chanyeol snaps back, all hisses and undeniable authority, undeniable intimidation. "You're better. You're ruthless, you're loyal, you'd do anything to get your Captain back. The sailors back on Earth couldn't care less. They'd just get a new Captain and go on with their lives." The stinging in his chest has him supposing that it's the truth and not just some propaganda crafted up to be fed to the pirates. They eat it up regardless. "I respect you all. But I am part of the navy. I know how they think, what their tactics are, where they are keeping him. I can be of help, I can help you get him back just as long as you all trust me."

I want him back just as badly as you all do.

A tremor of uncertainty rumbles through his skeptical audience. Some pirates look ready to trust him - the ones he'd already won over ages ago. They are the ones who don't care for his race or background, but for what he offers their cause. Right now, their cause is Baekhyun. And Chanyeol is almost ashamed of all the things he is willing to offer in exchange for him. Other pirates, however, look unsure, unwilling to listen. They exchange glances with each other and Chanyeol is left feeling on edge despite the confidence that exudes out of him. He briefly wonders if here will be mutiny aboard this ship today.

The thought is quickly pushed away. The Exodus crew are one. They cannot forget that so easily. He believes in them. He does. If he can believe in nothing else, then he can believe in the way he had witnessed scores of men, all from different planets and backgrounds coming together under one roof, in one home, in the Exodus and merging into one body, one team under the bond of love, trust and a thirst to live.

( A distant part of Chanyeol's mind wonders if love could ever fail him too. )

It is when Kyungsoo steps back into the centre of the circle, catching everyone's attention, that the decision is made. That he makes the decision for them.

"We'll do things Chanyeol's way. Those unwilling to cooperate will be left behind on Technos and will have to face the Captain personally when he is restored to his rightful position." His eyes flash violent violet. Simultaeneously, the Exodus' lights flicker around them in an outward display of his wrath, under his control.

Control. That is what the crew of Exodus needs. A single person to control them, a single person to answer to otherwise the differences between those onboard would be too great, enough to tear them apart. Baekhyun was their controller but at the same time, he was their glue, the substance that held them together. And for a brief moment, Chanyeol had seen what it was like to watch the Exodus fall apart without him.

"As you all know," Kyungsoo finishes, "he can be quite determined when trying to track someone down." It is a warning of malice that has those brave enough to speak out scurrying back to their places in fear.

This time when Chanyeol looks around, he is rendered shocked by what he finds. All aboard look to him.

Some gazes seem reluctant while others trusting, some are desperate while a couple are stoned over with determination, only their Captain on their minds. Even Jongdae's hard, unforgiving gaze seems to have softened lightly, respect clouding over to replace resentment.

"Don't fuck this up," Kyungsoo mumbles under his breath before moving backwards to position himself at the edge of the circle, blending in easily to become one with the ring of his crew mates. His second, mismatched family.

Faintly, in the depths of Chanyeol's mind he hears the cry of 'we are one' and thinks that no phrase could be more befitting for the crew of the Exodus.

The new head of the operation nods in Kyungsoo's direction, eyes freezing over with cold determination, illuminated by a burning flame that rages within him. He falls into the persona of a Captain that has been lost for the past 4 months and hopes that 4 months is not enough time for too many things to have a chance to change.

"Alright here's what we're going to do..."

//

Kim Minseok sits idly outside the cell he is guarding, puffing his cheeks. For lack of anything else to occupy himself with, he fiddles with the fraying hem of his royal blue blazer that is not nearly warm enough to protect him from the low temperatures of his less than cosy surroundings. He surveys the damp, underground dungeons for the tenth time tonight and sighs. He is so terribly bored. He looks up to the leaking ceiling above his head, down to the grimy floor beneath his feet and into the dingy cell, where a pirate Captain lies beaten up and bleeding. Something akin to pity pangs in his heart at the sight of him, hunched over onto his knees with his hands chained to the wall by manacles of iron. He wants to ask if the man is alright but has to hold his tongue. He's heard the stories about him, knows the things his prisoner has done. The higher ups had told him that this villan was, "dangerous and not to be approached." And Kim Minseok will be a dead man before he goes against the orders of his superiors.

Minseok himself is just a lowly sailor, recently dragged onto land after a disastrous raid of the previous ship he'd worked on; the Merida. His Captain had been kidnapped by their assailants and not much has been heard about him since. All crew members working under Captain Park Jr. had been transferred to work under the service of Lieutenant Kim and that is how Minseok has wound up stuck in the dark instead of tasting the sweet freedom of the new horizons.

Minseok hadn't been particularly close to his old Captain, however, he had heard good things about him and found he enjoyed working under him much more than he enjoyed being at his new dreary boss' beck and call. Lieutenant Kim had told everyone to assume the worse about their "dear, Captain Park," and Minseok thinks it's a shame, really. His old Captain was all toothy grins and jolly spirits and adventure after adventure while all Lieutenant Kim cared about was keeping prisoners and making money and staying dry.

The sailor puffs out his cheeks again. There's been nothing exciting happening lately.

( He's heard the rumours that his ex-Captain's captor was the very man he'd been put in charge of guarding; Captain Byun Baekhyun. He wonders why Lieutenant Kim hasn't interrogated the pirate on Captain Park's whereabouts yet. Not everyone can forget and move on so quickly. )

"E Exodus-" The prisoner behind him coughs up spittles of blood as he tries to force out words from his scratchy throat. His voice is husky and jagged around the edges from underuse and his fingertips twitch against his metal bindings, pulling against them weakly. Feebly.

Minseok had begun to notice - after numerous hours of guarding the captive - that he is continuously mumbling things to himself. Sometimes they are words of no importance, other times they're pleas for help and forgiveness. It gets worse when he's asleep and at times keeps Minseok himself from nodding off in the late hours of the night. The blood stained male thrashes around and cries and whimpers in his dreams, whispering things like "I'm sorry," and calling out the undeniable name of his ex-Captain; "Chanyeol."

The prisoner pants quietly, pearls of sweat trickling down the nape of his neck. His exposed chest is covered in purpling bruises, cuts and dried blood paint themselves across sore flesh whilst damp raven hair clings to a beaded forehead. Minseok frowns at the sight. He doesn't know why the higher ups insist on hurting the man when he wasn't even being detained for interrogational reasons. But he doesn't speak up for fear of his new commander's angered rebuttal of "know your place and ask no questions," that he had received one too many times. He'd heard from the grapevine that Lieutenant Kim often likes to torture his prisoners. It keeps them weak and unable to fight against him. Minseok supposes such a gruesome tactic works for he hasn't ever seen the pirate trying to fight back. Whenever Minseok had been present to witness the beatings, he just sees the man with his head bowed down in resignation as he bears the torture, like it's something he's been accustomed to. It bothers the lowly sailor to no end. Such submissive behaviour doesn't sit right with him. Captain Byun Baekhyun is meant to be the legendary, vicious pirate who prowls the universe in search for bounty and blood. Captain Byun Baekhyun isn't meant to just give up like that.

It's pointless to try and root for him, Minseok thinks, though a small part of him does, the part who has heard tales of the Captain's deeds and lust for adventure that he too shares. He supposes that could be the reason why he's sympathising with the enemy. It's a shame that all the stories seemed to be false. The Captain from the stories would have escaped by now, would never have taken such treatement. With a dejected shake of his head, Minseok tries to convince himself that it really doesn't matter since the Intergalactic authorities are coming over with their spaceships in tow the next morning to take the villain off their hands. Then he'll be out of sight, out of mind.

Turning on his heel once he deems the prisoner to be of no potential harm, Minseok makes to walk back over to his perch when he hears the faintest of whispers ghosting against his ears. It has his footsteps stuttering to a stop. He suddenly feels the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end as a feeling of dread wells up inside him for no reason that he can logically place. He fixes his features into a puzzled frown and turns back to the captive, whose body shakes like a leaf in a storm, veins bulging out of his neck.

"Exodus. Exodus," he mutters over and over again in a voice so low and gravelly that Minseok can't quite make out the words, though his blood still runs cold regardless. He rashly kicks his dusty boot against the pirate Captain's cage, trying to sound as intimidating as possible while he grasps to regain some aspect of control.

"What are you saying, pirate?" he yaps, attempting to shovel as much venom into each syllable as possible. It fails to hit the mark for his features are soon melding into a look of pure horror and he is shakily taking stumbling steps backwards when, without missing a beat, the captive whips his head up and bares his teeth, bares his regret on his shoulders and bares his suffering across his pained features - clear for the world to see. He is truly a sight to behold: lip torn, countless bruises blackening pale skin and eyes that are blown wide in animalistic ire.

"The Exodus is coming," the captured Captain screams, calling out for his ship like a siren calls out for her sailors, calls out for death. It pulls a terrified gasp from the young sailor's lips. Minseok's breathing turns ragged and the sweat that pools at his pores is ice cold. He takes another step back, trying to get as much distance between him and the deranged prisoner as possible.

He walks straight into a trap.

A gun clicks against his jaw, frosty metal pushing up against hard bone with bloody promise.

"Crap," the sailor curses under his breath. The pressure against his face forces him to look up at the owner of the gun who wields a similarly strong death grip around his shoulders. His assailant is the owner of soft, ethereal features and bleached blonde hair, exposed skin adorned in patterns that glow soft cerulean against porcelain. All of a sudden everything else blurs out and all he can see are doe eyes that blink down at him sweetly, easily enchanting his human soul.

The blessed child allows a smirk to stretch across pretty, pink lips. Humans were always so easy to fall for the beauty of the Veni, but for once, the ruffian himself is not faring much better.

"Aren't you a pretty little thing," he purrs, eyes scanning over the sailor's star-struck face, his smooth voice enough to distract him from the sound of another pair of footsteps that approach, heels rattling hard against concrete. Minseok has the audacity to blush.

"Luhan, we are here on a mission. Why don't you focus for now then eye fuck your new found toy later?" A low, rumbling voice brings them both back to reality and the small sailor's world rights itself. He glances over to where the sound came from and his eyes widen to the size of saucers when he is met with a strikingly familiar figure.

"C-Captain Park?" Minseok shrieks.

The addressed doesn't seem to struggle with recognising the other male, nor does he seem particularly surprised by their meeting. Either he'd known Minseok would be here or he had more important things on his mind.

"Hello, there Minseok, nice to see you again," the ex-Captain says with a smile that chills Minseok to the bone, freezing his nerve ends. His taut sloping of his lips doesn't look anything like the toothy grins he was once used to seeing. The eyeliner smeared around bloodshot eyes and the unruly state of his blazing hair makes him seem worlds apart from the well put together, respectable man Minseok had once believed him to be.

Well put together, respectable and boring, that is. Minseok can't say he hates the new dangerous glint in the taller's eyes, almost approves of his old boss' new rugged look. The shorter male's heart gives a thump in longing for the adventure that plays in Chanyeol's aura, weaving between his mussed up, ruffled locks and streaming over the crevices of his body.

"Mind opening your vault of treasures for me? There's something very precious in there that belongs to me," Chanyeol says next, not wanting to waste another second of time. He speaks with distant eyes yet his demenour reamains commanding. Verging on impatient. His clouded gaze moves away from Minseok's to stare at the man strapped chains inside the gloomy cell.

Chanyeol thinks Baekhyun has a knack for situating himself in surroundings that act as an extension of himself. First space, now here. It makes his blood boil.

"Sorry I'm late, love," Minseok hears the red head whisper as he is unceremoniously shoved towards the cell by the beautiful man holding him at gunpoint, malignant, cold metal pressing up against his jugular. It has his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Chanyeol looks so longing, so desperate as he stares at Baekhyun; his captor. He has a feeling he's missing vital parts of the story Lieutenant Kim and the media had been forcing down everyone's throats.

His thoughts are short-lived for a spine-tingling voice is soon rasping into his ears again. "Get the keys quickly, pretty thing, you don't want to anger him," Luhan all but cooes against his earlobe. Knees weak, Minseok is quick to unhook the keychain that dangles from the belt loops of his uniform, picking out the silver key that will set his prisoner free.

Baekhyun has been staring at Chanyeol this entire time, ever since he'd first heard his unmistakable deep baritone echoing through the dungeon. In his eyes lies a heat so fervent that Minseok swears the atmosphere around them spikes up a few degrees. It is not animosity, it is not the feelings a captor should hold towards their captive, it is something much more. Something that Minseok cannot quite place, cannot quite understand.

Chanyeol is by Minseok's side within the blink of an eye as his ex-crew member steps forward to swiftly unlock Baekhyun's cell without protest or the need for coercion. He's not sure if it's because he's aware that these pirates will blast his head off without a second thought if he so much as thinks of stepping out of line or because he wants to see what happens next.

"Can I bring him back with me, Cap?" the man holding him at gunpoint - Luhan, he now identifies him as - asks, a whining tone in his voice that brings with it hot puffs of air against Minseok's cheeks. He tries to squirm away but the small thing is surprisingly strong.

"As soon as I get what I came for. I couldn't care less what you do with him," Chanyeol growls, striding into the iron cage without another word. He's quick to go to the prisoner's side and Baekhyun can't even manage out any words as hands gentler than anything he has ever been subjected to before cause his breathing to stutter. Minseok finds he has to look away as the fiery-haired male sweeps a delicate gaze over the captive's face, eyelids fluttering in apprehension as if the force of his gaze alone could break him apart. Baekhyun doesn't dare breathe a word to him, doesn't even know what he would say. Doesn't even what would be acceptable in this sort of situation.

Chanyeol's eyes travel downwards and pause to take in the manacles clamped around his paper thin wrists and the blackening bruises that seem to transfer off the metal and filter into his skin. He once wore such chains as decoration, Chanyeol remembers, as jewellery, as a choice. But now he is forcibly entrapped in them like some horrible trick of fate. It is a good thing Baekhyun is no stranger to such trickery.

When Chanyeol speaks next, his voice is harder - more resilient - than the bars entrapping the man he has come to rescue. "Get him out of these chains, Minseok. Now."

Said man is scrambling for the small keys hidden in his pockets before he can even stop himself.

Chanyeol has never used such a gruff, commanding tone on any of his men before. But Minseok technically isn't one of his men anymore and Chanyeol technically isn't Chanyeol anymore. Not after all he's been through, not after meeting Baekhyun and getting swept away and lost in the raging storm that was the small pirate.

"You're lucky I came to save your ass after the way you tried to cast me aside like that," he mummers as he pulls off his jacket to drape over Baekhyun's bare chest, though he can't deny the way it breaks his heart to see him so weak, unable to do anything but breathe and flutter dark eyelashes against sheet white cheeks.

It's meant to be a joke but it cuts both of them deeper than that.

( Though his stomach flops uselessly by his side, Baekhyun's just glad to be able to hear Chanyeol's voice. )

Minseok makes quick work on unlocking the first menacing chain around Baekhyun's wrist and Chanyeol tenderly takes it into his large, calloused hands, smoothing over indents that serve as proof of the too tight restrictions that had dug into his skin. Slender fingers curl weakly into the sleeve of a white, satin shirt. The gesture forces Chanyeol to look down at him.

'You came back for me,' midnight black eyes scream at him. They are filled with questions and unsaid words that flood and drown his chest. 'Why?' they cry out. Chanyeol forces himself to look away, to pretend as if he hasn't understood, instead helping Baekhyun to shakily stagger onto his feet.

It's a question Chanyeol doesn't want to answer. Doesn't believe he should answer. Baekhyun should know the answer himself by now.

//

"Fuck you, motherfuckers!" Kyungsoo screeches, his .22 Caliber puncturing hole after hole into each of his enemies' bodies. Captain Park had said to keep the casualties down to a minimum but at this point in time, Kyungsoo couldn't care less. He shoots without precision, aiming at anything in blue. Revenge has never tasted so sweet.

He is the only man from the Exodus here, at the main office of the naval base, but it only takes one man with a loaded weapon to take down a building full of so-called 'sailors' and 'generals' that merely spend their day sat behind desks, typing their lives away. Half of them had bullets lodged in their brains before they could even notice his presence.

A crackling in his communicator earpiece has him lowering his gun for the slightest second.

"Kyungsoo," Captain Park's low voice reverberates in his ears.

"Chanyeol," he replies without missing a beat, face stoic as he takes his cue to make quick, determined steps back out of the building, gun raised and pointed at anyone who tries to get in his way. They all cower in his presence. Offering him any sort of trouble is at the bottom of their list of priorities. "Did you get him." It's not really a question. Kyungsoo had told him not to bother coming back if he were to fail in retrieving Baekhyun and had been all prepared to turn this into a one-man mission in case Chanyeol's plan were to go to shit. He had split up the crew into 4 groups, had them corner in on the building from all sides so they could sneak down into the lower levels of the dungeon, had them do it quietly and sneakily instead of Kyungsoo's plan to full out wage war on the building. Then he had given Kyungsoo a separate mission that the Technician was forced to reluctantly accept because Chanyeol can be a persuasive son of a bitch when he wants to be and none of Kyungsoo's indignant shouting of "this is my best friend, I'll be damned if I don't get him out of that cell with my own hands!" was going to sway him.

"Yes," Chanyeol's reply has him exhaling a breath he didn't know he was holding onto. He immediately picks up his pace. There is a brief pause before Chanyeol, in turn, asks, "did you get what I asked for?"

"Yes." Kyungsoo's free hand, swinging by his side as he takes quick and sure strides towards the exit, grips tightly onto the stolen file between his fingertips. The incentive for his private mission. "Are you sure about this?" The strength exerted on paper causes ragged creases to fold over the name stamped onto it, like jagged lashes rained down across the name of 'Captain J. Park.'

There's another slight hesitation before Chanyeol speaks up. "No."

//

Chanyeol's body is as warm as ever against Baekhyun's side as the latter weakly limps in time with him. The effort of even holding himself upright has him drenched in his own sweat and every step is a knife digging into his flesh, though it is really Chanyeol's arm around his waist, keeping him close to his own body, that is preventing him from collapsing.

Smokey eyes are trained on the ground, littered with the bodies of a dozen naval sailors, pools of dark crimson mixing with obnoxious royal blue. Some are alive and take in what shallow breaths they can manage, praying for the blessing of survival while others are motionless. It seems his crew mates had created a bloody walkway to freedom in order to ensure their safe getaway.

With an exhale that runs through the deepest pits of his body, Baekhyun shuts his eyes. Shuts out the death and destruction that relentlessly follows him wherever he goes to focus on something else, something that's been quietly screaming in the back of his mind, like a persistent itch that won't go away. He can feel themselves getting closer to the Exodus, no doubt parked right outside the dungeon. He can feel Her calling out to him.

Nimble fingers clutch at the front of Chanyeol's shirt. It's stained in a red that the shorter hopes doesn't belong to him. He clings onto the taller male like he is his rock, his harbour, his safety and Chanyeol can't bear to look at him without his throat closing up. Baekhyun proudly wears against his skin various shades of black and blue that serve as lasting reminders of his ordeal. They will no doubt settle into permanent scars over time, but Baekhyun holds scars that sink deeper than just skin and they both know he will survive regardless.

"I'm sorry," the broken boy breathes after a second of being engulfed in the murk behind his eyelids. Darkness. He's used to it. It's as much a comfort now as it is a curse. His voice is faint and muffled against Chanyeol's chest, but the taller hears it loud and clear. Baekhyun takes the way the taller tightens his hold on him and pulls him in a little closer as his own way of saying he's forgiven. And when Chanyeol looks down at him, eyes brimming with tears, windows to his soul holding a deeper meaning with words he cannot say himself but instead flood the murky oceans Chanyeol holds within him, Baekhyun understands; they tell him, 'I was worried.'

Baekhyun's hands tremble along with his lower lip as he skims his fingertips in the fresh blood that has been bothering him for a while now, caused his heart to sink and stomach to curl in on itself. He thought - he'd hoped - he'd been hallucinating and that the pool of red was just an illusion but when the cold liquid stains his flesh in violent crimson, he gets his answer. "Tell me this isn't yours." His voice cracks as he speaks, turning his head up to look at his hostage whose eyes only twinkle with faint amusement and something akin to pride.

"Not mine. The Lieutenant's," he tells him softly. He would look like a monster to anyone else, proudly wearing someone else's vital fluid across his body, but to Baekhyun he looks like a caged child set free as he entwines their fingers together, brushes his lips against the smaller's knuckles. Baekhyun doesn't have it in him pull away this time.

It takes him less than a few moments to match the name to a foul face, features twisted into a mask of villainy as he rained down lash after lash, fist after fist onto Baekhyun's body. He was a monster. But he was also a monster that Baekhyun had willingly brought into their lives. He reluctantly remembers the bar, betrayed eyes and threatening blue. And then guilt begins to eat him away.

"I'm sorry," he says again, voice getting weaker by the second. "For making you hurt people." For hurting you, goes unsaid but he hopes Chanyeol still hears it.

"For you, I would do it ten times over," the redhead says with the faintest of smiles. Baekhyun twitches his lips upwards along with him before it soon starts to slowly slip off his face, like a dawning realisation. He allows his eyes to flutter closed once more at the soft press of Chanyeol's lips against his temple. In this brief moment, he wishes for the darkness to swallow him whole as his heart thrums with dread inside his tight chest. Chanyeol doesn't do light chuckles, he does full-on guffaws and blinding beams. His lips have never been soft against Baekhyun's skin, only firm and meaningful, burning hot and utterly devouring. There's something wrong. And Baekhyun knows exactly what.

I did this, Baekhyun thinks. Whatever I touch turns to stone. And he can see it already, he can see Chanyeol beginning to harden his heart.

He has no time to dwell on what's broken for just as Baekhyun thinks he can fall asleep right here, right now and block out reality in the sweet arms of rest, a harrowing sound is rattling against Baekhyun's eardrums. It sends a sudden spike of adrenaline spilling into his blood. Before he knows it, his weak fingers are digging into the taller's arm tighter than ever, causing his companion to halt dead in his tracks and shout out exclamations of concern. Chanyeol's head whips around to stare at Baekhyun in bewilderment, a sickening crack ringing out through the stone walls at the hasty movement.

With a cry, the shorter doubles over, trembling hands flying to his temples as his head pounds in time with the decibels that screech inside his mind. It's not an after effect of exhaustion, it's not his own consciousness playing tricks on him. He thought it was Her, he thought it was the Exodus calling out to him. But he's not Kyungsoo. He doesn't have a telepathic connection to his ship. It coudn't be Her. It's someone else's voice inside his head. And it sounds so desperate, so alone.

"Baekhyun are you ok? Baekhyun what's wrong?" Chanyeol exclaims. Fear solidifies his blood and he holds onto him just as tightly, as if he were about to lose him for the second time. "Tell me what's wrong-"

"Chanyeol, I hear a voice," the raven haired man whispers because that's all he can manage, eyes screwed shut and breathing heavy, the torment tripling as the voice spreads through his weak body like roots in the soil. Chanyeol's pupils are darting around between Baekhyun who writhes and howls in agony and their surroundings. No one else is around, there is nothing but silence in the dungeon but Baekhyun looks so sure, looks so bewildered, looks so pained.

"Baekhyun, I'm sure you're being delusional. There was no one down here but you-"

It takes everything within the pirate Captain to cut off his companion as he forces out strained words past his tight throat. "It's a child."

The fiery haired male is immediately silenced at his words, lips pressing into a thin line when the other male looks up at him with such panic that it infects him, a dull thrum of fear striking his heart. "I hear it, Chanyeol. Chanyeol it's - Chanyeol she's crying."

//

They find her after Baekhyun refused to cease his hysterical babbling and Chanyeol was forced to call Luhan down with Minseok. They didn't have much more time left to get off Earth before the Navy were alerted of their presence and called for backup. Minseok had shown no sign of protest - having become oh so pliant under Luhan's charms - and led them down the other wing of the dungeon, though he himself seemed so sure that there was, "no one else down here but Baekhyun. We would never keep a child locked up, I'm sure."

After some time, Chanyeol had quickly become antsy, telling Baekhyun that they would probably not find anything and were only wasting time. His words had fallen on deaf ears.

Despite Chanyeol's protests and Minseok's adamancy, they do find her. Her cell is hidden so deeply in the darkest corners of the dungeon, Chanyeol wonders whether they'll ever remember the way they came in after all the twists and turns they had to take to get here.

She is a small, bony little thing, a baby bird trapped in a cage ten times her size, and she possesses the most beautiful golden hair any of the males have ever seen. It glimmers even in the dimness of the dungeon, glittering and entrancing all of them. But her face is covered in dirt and dust and tear tracks in the most pitiful of ways and when she speaks, her voice is just as small as her, hoarse from underuse.

"You found me," she says. Her quiet voice rings in Baekhyun's ears, amplified, and he is quick to rush to the bars of the cell, Chanyeol hot on his heels like a guard dog. Yes, this is the voice he heard. This is the one that was asking for help. This is the one who told him Chanyeol was coming for him.

"What is your name?" Chanyeol asks her once he realises Baekhyun doesn't have the strength to while Minseok searches in his pockets for a key, mumbling under his breath about how Lieutenant Kim was a monster for keeping a child as a prisoner.

She looks up at him with eyes that hold entire gleaming galaxies within them. He's entranced.

"Seulgi," she replies.


	7. VI

The Exodus reverts back to Her usual state less than two weeks after Baekhyun's return: buzzing and alive with excited, drunken chatter. The communal hall is ten times larger tonight with the removal of the dining table and with the way it's decorated for this evening's festivities. A dozen multicoloured balloons of all mismatched shapes and sizes dot themselves around the venue with golden streamers haphazardly clinging onto walls and ceilings and floors whilst tonight's show stealer - a horrendous, fluorescent pink banner that screams the words 'Happy Birthday Captain ByunBaek!' in barely legible writing - drapes itself over a makeshift stage housing the ship's own 'band.' Tonight's entertainment is a slipshod ramble of clumsy 'musicians' possessing the talents of fumbling fingers and flawed senses of rhythm. They blindly strum out a half decent tune for their fellow pirates to 'get down' to, lost in their own little word in which proper tuning and technique is of no use to them.

Somewhere on the dance floor, Jongdae whips out a few of his party moves. Chanyeol cringes at the sight.

The red haired male sits alone in the corner, far removed from all the chaos. The scowl on his face is a permanent feature of today, matching splendidly with the silent seething that rolls off his figure in tidal waves. He drops the unpleasant expression for long enough to take dainty sips from the glass in his hand, savouring the bubbling of champagne against his tongue as he makes an attempt to drink his concerns away.

He had been strictly against this. Still is, if anyone were to ask him. They don't anymore, however, long since fed up with his party pooping ways. He had been adamant that there would be no party tonight and that he would not sit through the sound of any drunken shanties being screamed carelessly into the microphones because, "Captain Byun is still recovering and honestly Junmyeon is horrible at the drums." His words had fallen on deaf ears - though he did earn himself an angered retort from Junmyeon - for his voice was drowned out by the sound of the good time and booze that called out for the pirates.

"Relax, Chanyeol, it'll be good for the Captain," the wretched scallywags had said to him, already rolling barrels of beer down the halls. Chanyeol huffs irritably as Kris blindly strums a wrong chord on the ukulele dwarfed against his chest like a children's toy. The nerve. He wonders how anyone could think this party could be good for Baekhyun in any way whatsoever: Baekhyun who is still covered in the stubbornly remaining marks of fading bruises and healing wounds, Baekhyun who can barely sleep a wink at night unless Chanyeol is there by his side to soothe his nightmares and the aches beneath his skin, Baekhyun who still looks radiant even under the gaudy lighting of a multi coloured disco ball, decked out in his pure black tuxedo and bow tie. The tie is pink and matches Chanyeol's and it just might very well be the only good thing about this night.

He sighs again, hot breath now collecting up a little gathering of storm clouds against the rim of his glass flute as he curses it all. "Baekhyun seems fine," people tell him. But the words do nothing to soothe this frustration. Yes, he agrees the man of the hour does look fine while laughing like a child at an intoxicated Sehun's inappropriate jokes. But he always looks like that. He's always pretending. He's always been trying up to keep a strong front. He's always trying to act like his infected wounds aren't torturing him with every twirl and like the scars in his soul aren't eating him away. But Chanyeol knows better. He sees things no one else can see. He knows him in a way no one else could ever know.

//

Captain Byun Baekhyun had been welcomed back onto the Exodus with a chorus of enthusiastic cheers, courtesy of his rowdy crew. Not a single one had gone missing in action or fallen on foreign soil. They'd all made sure to survive in order to witness the wild happiness that unravelled in their battered and beaten Captain's eyes when he was brought back home. The heartwarming reunion had even brought a smile to Chanyeol's own face.

Baekhyun had smiled wordlessly when Chanyeol had laid him down in bed that night. He had remained silent when Chanyeol examined him - covered in blood that actually was his own for once - and let him fall back against the soft sheets that easily swallowed up his small frame like the embrace of a mother. And he had wrapped his weak fingers around his wrist, pulled his hostage closer and asked him to stay when Chanyeol was about to bid him a good night. The Captain's soft voice had washed over the taller, sinking into his fatigued muscles and acted like cool balm against the cracks in his heart. How could he have denied him?

The normalcy had felt strange, it settled over them like a light layer of fresh snow when Chanyeol laid in bed next to Baekhyun, running calloused fingers through midnight locks. It had felt like it was just any other day, like Chanyeol hadn't just brought the shorter back from his doom on a mission heavy paid for in blood. But in all honesty he was just happy Baekhyun was back where he belonged. He knew Baekhyun didn't want the coddling, didn't want the medics fussing over him here and there, Baekhyun just wanted some peace and quiet and for everything to go back to normal.

Chanyeol wondered that night, when Baekhyun's head was buried in the crook of his neck and his breathing had evened out, where he fit in in Baekhyun's perception of 'normal.'

//

Chanyeol watches now as Baekhyun lifts up little Seulgi, who's all decked out in a pretty yellow dress they'd nicked from Earth. He spins her around in the air and she giggles vibrantly but the onlooker can only wince at the thought of how Baekhyun's bruised ribs must be crying out in protest, how the nerves in his sore arms must be alight with strain. But he doesn't intervene. Baekhyun had specifically asked him not to tonight. All he can do is sit and brood.

The little girl and the overgrown boy had taken a liking to each other, making up a sort of mismatched yet inseparable duo. While Baekhyun - once he'd come to his senses - had been the first to claim that "a pirate ship is no place for a little girl to grow up," he couldn't bring himself to leave her in the hands of an orphanage or in the hands of strangers, whether it be on Earth or on Mars. He wanted to keep her by his side, to protect her. And Seulgi, had wanted the same thing.

In a very similar sense, Chanyeol had wanted to keep Baekhyun by his side. His plan had succeed for the first few minutes of the party but it soon became apparent that his companion was ever the popular one for he was always being whisked away by his men, who so desperately wanted to sneak in a dance with their Captain. To Chanyeol's surprise and utter dismay, the shorter never refused a single offer.

Baekhyun isn't a particularly skilled dancer, Chanyeol can definitely vouch for that. His eyes are glued to the way the other male clumsily moves to the beat - very much like he has been doing for the past few hours - and a laugh almost threatens to sneak past his lips at the embarrassed smile the shorter carries as he bobs his head in an off beat manner. However, his throat is soon closing up and running dry, preventing any sound from escaping besides a strangled gurgle of surprise as Baekhyun wiggles his hips good naturedly, looking up at his current dance partner with teasing mirth in his eyes. Chanyeol makes a mental note to mutilate whoever he was dancing with later. Those hips are only his to fawn over.

As soon as he tucks that thought away for sake keeping, a hand is curling itself around his arm, tugging insistently on the limb and stealing away his attention from the man who dazzles and gleams and has him growing hot under the collar. "Come on, sealegs!" Kyungsoo's unmistakable drunken slur invades his ears. Chanyeol cringes at the stench of alcohol that follows. "The Captain's been waiting all night for you to grow some balls and ask him to dance."

Chanyeol accidentally spills champagne over his new suit trousers as he's hauled onto his feet, but that's not the only reason why he's turning so red and spluttering. "Well, he was always so busy with other people so-"

Kyungsoo cuts off Chanyeol's sad attempt at defending himself with a hearty guffaw and a shake of his head. "You know he would've rejected everyone else if you'd only just asked."

From the centre of a crowd of inappropriately grinding bodies, Baekhyun looks over at the two men with amusement dancing in his eyes. He is ever the image of poise and confidence as he passes Seulgi's hand into Minseok's - who had been more than happy to leave his uneventful life behind on Earth and follow them onboard - so that she may retire for the night. He bids her goodnight with a tender kiss against her hair as Kyungsoo starts hobbling his way over to him, a reluctant Chanyeol in tow.

Knowing there was no way out of this, Chanyeol rolls back his shoulder and clears his throat, matching the Captain's - who straightens up when they grow nearer - levels of confidence with ease. Only the subtle way in which the Captain shifts from foot to foot and flutters his eyelashes as he waits for Chanyeol to close the distance between them gives him a glimpse at the shorter's carefully masked feelings. Chanyeol wonders what they could be. Nervousness? Dread? Apprehension?

But the easy smile Baekhyun throws in his direction steals the red head's breath away and has his thoughts flying off with it.

"I heard someone was longing for a dance with me?" Chanyeol's smooth baritone rumbles out from his chest, engulfing Baekhyun in the feeling of a falling as the taller steps into his personal space. The goofy grin that follows is enough to have the hammering of his heart dying down into a more steady pace, like they'd reached some sort of familiar territory, a comfortable limbo made just for the both of them. The thought is scarier than it should be.

Kyungsoo is quick to skitter away, giggling to himself and missing the way Baekhyun takes a reflexive step backwards to create some distance between him and the taller male. Chanyeol, however, doesn't and pulls him back in by the small of his back without skipping a single beat before settling them into a perfect waltz stance. He is in no mood to play to their constant push and pull, flippant hot and cold. Instead, today, he is hoping to impress. He's glad he'd been taught the art of dance growing up, it was a skill of his that always aided in charming his pursuits right off their feet.

"Are you talking about me or you?" Baekhyun shoots back once he regains some strength in his wobbly knees. Though his voice lacks the bite it usually possesses, it's enough for Chanyeol to remember his place, their dynamics. Baekhyun is not his pursuit, he is not his prey. It's quite the opposite in fact, always has been. But Chanyeol might just allow himself to be fooled into thinking that they're approaching even ground when the shorter leans in a little closer, resting his hand on the taller's shoulder.

"Both of us, hopefully," Chanyeol grins, finding his words once the music starts up again. Their performance begins with Baekhyun biting back the growing smile that threatens to spill across his face.

//

( "Of course you'd know how to waltz," Baekhyun mumbles none too quietly. Chanyeol would consider being mildly offended if it weren't for the light pink blush blooming across his dance partner's cheeks that sets off a warmth blossoming within his own chest.

"Happy birthday," he says in response, upturned lips pressing a kiss against his temple. )

//

Baekhyun is a clumsy student at first, all syncopated beats and rushed catches of Chanyeol's toes under his heels but he is also a quick learner under the guidance of the red head's expert teachings, learning from his mistakes and gaining confidence with every heavy pulse. The latter chuckles when he realises Baekhyun had taken to quietly counting beats under his breath, admiring the crease of his eyebrows as he concentrates his focus on mastering the footwork.

Baekhyun doesn't dare look at him, can't bring himself to peek up from beneath his eyelashes and catch the latter's eyes for the weight of an unwavering gaze on his face is far too heavy, far too meaningful to allow him to lift his head.

The music takes a sudden turn - and that's when they realise waltz music had been blasting through the speakers via record player rather than any kind of live instrumentation - when the band return from their break, refilled with liquid courage and all prepared to play the next song in their set. Despite how much Chanyeol despises their 'music,' he refuses to lose the proximity achieved between him and Baekhyun. When the latter makes a move to step away, Chanyeol only locks both arms around the shorter's waist, keeping him close and pressed flush against his chest. He marvels in the way his long limbs easily envelop the Captain's small frame, even if it's only to feign how he misses the way Baekhyun stiffens and hesitates before snaking his own arms around Chanyeol's neck.

"How old even are you?" Chanyeol asks conversationally, attempting to initiate some sort of dialogue between them for he knows Baekhyun never will. And also to take the Captain's mind off the cat calls being thrown their way.

( In the background, a smooth tenor voice melts into the microphone, vocals dripping from the singer's lips like honey. Baekhyun doesn't have to look up like Chanyeol does to know it's Kyungsoo that's crooning into the mic. )

"No idea," the raven haired male replies with a little chuckle. Chanyeol's glad he finally managed to pull one out of him. "I don't know how anyone even knows it's my birthday in amidst the abyss. These idiots just take any opportunity they get to have some booze and a party. It's probably September or something back on Earth."

Baekhyun hadn't seen anything besides his cell and darkness so he wouldn't know, but Chanyeol remembers the delicate cherry blossoms buds that had greeted them on Earth the day his bloody rescue mission took place. It had been Spring then. And it seems to be Spring now, softly unfolding like petals over Chanyeol's heart. Chanyeol loves the sound of light laughter lacing itself into Baekhyun's voice, wrapping around his flowering organ and infiltrating it with an undeniable warmth that blazes quietly beneath his skin before seeping into his very bones. He loves the universe of stars that unravel themselves in the smaller eyes which are nothing but replicas of crescent moons as he smiles up at him now. He loves the way they sway together, synchronised to the thump of a dulled out beat, addicted to his scent as he falls and falls and falls. He loves-

"Fly me to the moon,  
Let me play among the stars."

Chanyeol quickly shifts his attention to Kyungsoo's befitting song choice rather than the curve of Baekhyun's lips so that he no longer has to entertain such thoughts. He twirls Baekhyun around, relishing in the loss of twinkling stars embedded in dark orbs if even just for a second. The brightness within them seemed to blind his judgement.

"When actually is your birthday then?" he asks, charming smile painting itself across his features again with practiced ease, unwavering unlike the flurry of emotion that creates a storm in his stomach. He hopes it's in Spring.

"Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars."

( "IT'S SHIT! WHY DO YOU THINK I LEFT?" a drunken Sehun bellows above the music. His group of alcohol induced friends cackle along with him and Chanyeol watches with wonder as Baekhyun rolls his eyes, displeasure punctuated by an enchanting snort. )

"May 6th 1992."

"In other words, hold my hand.  
In other words, baby, kiss me."

Chanyeol's eyebrows quirk upwards in pleasant surprise. "We're the same age," he announces. Baekhyun mimics his reaction. Chanyeol sees sparks. "But it seems you're older. Mine's November 27th."

Another melodic laugh rumbles from Baekhyun's chest and Chanyeol feels like he's floating, gliding across the dance floor with the petite man in his arms. "So you should show some respect to your elder and do as I say?" An arch of the shorter's eyebrow and the teasing lilt in his voice has the other male feeling braver, winking and leaning in close enough to ghost his lips against the shell of his dance partner's ear.

"I'm willing to tonight."

"Fill my heart with song and let me sing forever more,  
You are all I long for, all I worship and adore."

Chanyeol could not understand how the feelings he could not even begin to fathom could be so perfectly replicated and brought to life through a simple melody carried by a smooth tenor but he hardly thinks it matters with the way Baekhyun returns his soft gaze, embers flickering low in his smokey eyes as his pupils roam across the taller's face. As if he too were on the verge of discovering new islands, countries, planets within Chanyeol's eyes.

"In other words, please be true."

As if he too were on the verge on reciprocating the feelings that slowly unwind like a riddle within Chanyeol's soul. Like a realisation. Like an epiphany.

"In other words, I love you."

The trance is abruptly broken. Quickly shattered. The atmosphere left suspended in the air, to linger for the briefest of seconds before crashing to the ground. Spilt and spoilt.

It all comes to a halt when Baekhyun hastily rips his gaze away as soon as Kyungsoo lightly trills out words that weigh down like lead against his bruised ribs. The music dies out like the crescendo of Chanyeol's feelings: a flame doused by ice cold water. Taking a harried step back, the dark haired male leaves the embrace he let himself become wrapped up in, let himself become lost in, whilst the cold clots inside his veins. His breathing is ragged and harsh and with the way Chanyeol looks down at him, eyes carrying a painful mixture of emotions he does not wish to place, it only becomes harder for him to breathe.

"I- uh- I should tell everyone the party's over. The fun's gone on for long enough," Baekhyun rambles out, rubbing at the nape of his neck for lack of anything else to do. He cringes at how the syllables tumble awkwardly out his mouth, a few decibels too loud, too deafening, a few unstable notes too high.

"Alright," Chanyeol whispers. His eyes leave the wondrous creature before him who insists on running from him like hunted prey and instead situate themselves on the floor, ridden with colourful flakes of confetti and blackened with shoe polish. He is not oblivious to the cause of Baekhyun's sudden change in mood. He pinpoints it easily. Love. It sends a bitterness wracking through his body, smothering out the sweetness he'd tasted on his tongue, heard in his ears. He feels like the speculations that had been bubbling up beneath his lungs had finally been confirmed and put into a distressed rest.

"I'm quite tired," he announces, a little louder now. "I think I'll head back first."

Baekhyun silently nods, lips pressed tightly together before turning to make hasty work of shooing off Sehun and his gang to bed. He doesn't dare look at the other. Chanyeol finally allows his eyes to settle on the shorter, gaze easily resting on the porcelain of his skin, the gentle curve of his hips and the pink tint of his lips. He allows himself to gather up the courage to take a step closer and stoop down towards his - lover? bedmate? he's not sure - to steal a kiss goodnight but Baekhyun flinches at the sudden proximity, turning his head to the side without another thought so that chapped lips find shelter against his cheek instead of hitting home. A hot rush of a harrowing sigh is smothered against the smooth skin of Baekhyun's cheek, though he pretends to miss it.

The taller pulls back and turns on his heel without sparing Baekhyun another glance, demeanour deflated. "Happy birthday, Baekhyun. Don't be back too late," he says quietly from over his shoulder. And without another word, he takes his exit. Leaving the man of the hour feeling so familiarly hollow.

//

The Captain's quarters had turned into a shared room for two bodies ever since the whole 'Baekhyun-gets-taken' fiasco. Baekhyun had claimed it calmed his nightmares to have someone sleeping next to him and, as usual, Chanyeol didn't - couldn't - refuse him. He finds it's a curse. But tonight, as Chanyeol lies back against soft, familiar pillows alone, he feels as if it is not his place to be in that room, as if he has no right to be here. As if he were not welcome.

When he was a child, Chanyeol had stumbled across a bird with a broken wing on his way home from school. The small thrush's desperate song had sounded like a plea for help directed specifically at him and without another moments hesitation, Chanyeol had scooped it up and carried it home with him, cradled between the nest of his palms. He couldn't have left it to fend for itself, he couldn't have lived with the guilt of not knowing whether it survived or not, of knowing that he could've done something to help it yet didn't. His father had unsurprisingly told him to take it back to where he'd found it, that he shouldn't have wasted his time on something that has such low chances of survival and that he couldn't get in the way of what nature wanted but Chanyeol for the first time ever - the first of many yet to come - had refused to listen to him. He'd earned himself sanctions for that: the silent treatment, sloppy left overs for dinner and his father's scorning expression of distaste every time he witnessed how Chanyeol had relentlessly tried to nurture and care for the creature until it was all healed, undeterred by his father's objections.

That's Chanyeol had worked, how he has always worked. When he sees something broken, he has to fix it, even if the situation looks helpless, he has to at least try. He has to help even if it means compromising his own self. Even if it devours him from the inside out until he wonders why he ever let himself get so deeply entwined in a mess he's so unable to get out of.

"You didn't care about me, you just wanted me gone because what we had scared you."

"What do we have, huh? The relationship between a captor and his captive? A ruffian and a law abiding daddy's boy?"

"Baekhyun-"

"No. You didn't care about me either. It was all just out of pity, wasn't it? That first night when I broke down, the second night and all the nights afterwards? Don't try to pin this all on me, Chanyeol. We have both done evils to each other in this relationship and don't for a second think that either of us are unaware of that."

Chanyeol replays the scene in sepia, remembers the words like a tattered script in his solitude. It's always the same: always the same harsh scowling of Baekhyun's face, always the same sinking feeling of his heart, always the same realisation that maybe Baekhyun wasn't completely wrong. Without the male here by his side to distract him, he relives the situation and withstands the pain that crystallises in his veins.

The conversation had taken place a few days after Baekhyun's return when the tension between them had reached a breaking point, when the turbulent waters beneath a calm exterior became too much to hold in and broke past the flood barriers. A couple of other things had broken that night: some lamps, some plates, two hearts. They hadn't really spoken about it after that, not when they could just revert back to normal life and pretend like everything was alright. Normal. But Chanyeol goes back to that night whenever he's alone, entertains his demons in moments like this, when he's waiting for Baekhyun to join him in bed. It's like an infection that you never tell anyone about, the emotions and doubts that poison his blood. You just let it sit there because you think it'll go away on its own but really it's festering under your skin, spreading it's disease and crippling you from the inside out until eventually you're left hollowed and blackened.

Through ignoring their problems, neither of them learn from their mistakes, nor do they make an effort to right them. They are left stagnant, in the middle of a breakdown that neither moves forward nor backwards, but stays constant. They are left in constant pain.

The first night might have been out of pity, but he's not so sure about all the nights after. The urge to protect, to fix the older male may be nothing but Chanyeol's need help those in need, to make a difference in their lives, but the hammering of his heart, the warmth that paralyses him at the sight of the shorter's smile. They couldn't be born out of pity, could they?

With a sigh, Chanyeol buries his head into a pillow that's too soft for his liking. Baekhyun was probably helping clear up the mess from the party or waiting for him to fall asleep before he takes the risk of sneaking in. He decides he might as well do the shorter a favour and closes his eyes, falling into a slumber plagued with smokey dark orbs that carry a black ocean of devouring waves within them.

//

The Exodus is quiet at this time of night. The lights are dimmed - as per Baekhyun's request - and the Captain prowls down the corridors of his ship, heels of his boots clicking against marble floors, echoing around quietness. The sound ricochets off marble and comes to a halt along with his movements when he nears the man waiting for him at the end of the corridor.

"You wanted to see me?" Baekhyun asks his right hand man who waits by the door of his room, tired and irritable. He smooths delicate fingers over his features, fully aware of what a mess he must look like with his make up blotchy and fatigue stark against the muscles of his face. He can't bring himself to care too much when all he wants to do is sleep. He is so exhausted, he almost misses the envelope that Kyungsoo clutches in his hand, fingers clinging onto it for dear life.

"When we went to Earth to retrieve you," the alien starts, extending his hand out towards his Captain with a little exhale, "I also got you this." Stone like eyes flash violet with a resolve that shakes the other male and sends a lightning strike of curiosity through his bones. No traces of the intoxicated young man from earlier can be seen, all that's left in his place is a robot of steel adopting the skin of a human.

Kyungsoo elaborates no further but instead compels Baekhyun to take the envelope from him with his eyes. A beat of silence passes between them as the smokey eyed man warily examines the offering before shooting a questioning stare up at his closest friend, only to be met with an unwavering, determined gaze as impenetrable as the sheets of metal he controls. The look forces him to blink his gaze away as he slowly takes the envelope from him, opening it up with hesitancy to find a file within it. Crumpled up, tattered and torn, with the name 'Captain Park' stamped across it in bold red.

For a moment, all time freezes. All time catches up to him. And all time melts away like space matter into the void.

"It contains everything about him. His current whereabouts included," Kyungsoo narrates as Baekhyun flips through the file with shaky fingers and staggering breaths. His face is pale and his pupils skim over the information in front of him, unbelieving of the resource in his hands. Kyungsoo wonders if he's even listening or if the adrenaline thrumming in his ears is blocking out the sound of his voice. He continues regardless. "It seems he settled down on the planet of Solaria a year or so ago. I took the liberty of changing the Exodus' course last week and we should be docking at the planet by tomorrow morning."

Tired, incredulous wide eyes beseech him for some kind of answer. For something to tell him that this is all some kind of joke. That this isn't real. That everything he has been working for, dreaming of is not actually coming true so easily. It feels like a dream. A hallucination. "How did you-"

"It was Chanyeol's idea, in all honesty," and then Baekhyun is left quivering in his place. "However, he asked me to destroy the information as soon as you were back on board. I don't know if it was his plan all along or if he'd suddenly changed his mind on letting you see this - but either way I thought I shouldn't do anything without showing it to you. Think of it as a joint birthday present of sorts."

Baekhyun's mind is a flurry of conflicting emotions, of a million different scenarios that could play out depending on what step he took next. Then he thinks of the one name that resonates through his entire body. Chanyeol. He remembers hurt eyes and a heart that painfully ached knowing that he was the cause of them. He can't hurt him again, not when they're already walking on such tight ropes. But he knows for a fact Chanyeol doesn't trust him, can't trust him, not anymore, not after what he's done. And though it tears himself apart inside, the knowledge of this, the knowledge that his captive had tried to keep his father's whereabouts a secret from him - no doubt in an attempt to protect him - makes him wonder if he can trust Chanyeol. Every fibre in his being wants to so desperately but he's not sure anymore.

Revenge, one part of him wails longingly. Peace, another screams in anguish. He wonders if one can bring on the other and if there were an easy way to solve all this.

Baekhyun's silence proves to be too long and too messy for Kyungsoo so he edges him on, knowing he has to give his closest friend an option to end it all or walk away. He doesn't try to influence him in any way, knowing the Captain doesn't need to be more conflicted than he already is.

"It doesn't mean you have to go after him, though. When we dock later, we can leave as soon as or as late as you want us to. This is your choice, Baek. Yours and yours alone."

And then, from the pocket of his black trousers, he produces a glass syringe, its contents swooshing in a manner of clear, deadly promise. Without another word, he presses the cool surface of it into Baekhyun's shaking palms.

"What's this for?" he whispers, though Kyungsoo thinks he should already know what it's for. Thinks he should already know what choice to make and wonders why Baekhyun is trying to deny himself of what he wants and has always wanted. Maybe he's changed.

"In case you make your choice and lover boy gets rowdy."

//

For once Baekhyun can actually tell the difference between night and day. Light chases his footsteps, hot on heels as it tries to keep up with his endless wandering. Outside, dawn scatters the darkness and the nearest star in this corner of space - Solaria's sun - burns a bright blue, bathing the corridor in sky hues. It's a contrast to Baekhyun who's a spider in black.

He'd spent the entire night of his birthday re-exploring the Exodus like an uncharted island, fingertips tracing over familiar walls and table tops though he's had every corner of his ship engraved into his heart for a while now. He busied himself with cleaning up whatever messes were leftover from last night's shindig, sneaking himself some cookies from the kitchen, nagging his men who hobbled drunkenly through that halls to make themselves scarce. Anything that would distract him, even if just for a second. The ship is going to dock in the next few minutes and the thought alone has Baekhyun impatiently willing time to go on faster whilst dreadfully willing it to stop altogether.

When he finally, finally slips into his room, a single white envelope clenched tightly in his hands like it had been throughout the entire night and a glass cylinder weighing heavy in his pocket, he prepares himself to break apart everything that had been salvaged and mended from an already hopeless situation. But as soon as his eyes skim over the body of the male, peacefully sleeping in his bed, he finds that it is him that's breaking instead.

Baekhyun hates how ingrained Chanyeol is to the very core of the ship. He saw him with every turn, saw him in everything: the cookies, the halls, the corridors and now his bedroom. The Captain was planning to just watch the sleeping figure of his- his- 'what even is he to me?' If he was lover, friend, companion then he surely won't be for any longer, yet Baekhyun's feet - his body, his heart - are ever the betrayers, taking on minds of their own and he finds himself crossing the distance of his room with memorised steps to crouch down by the taller's side. His heart lurches as his eyes automatically set off a well-known path, sailing over every bump and ridge and smooth curve of the taller's face, admiring how peaceful and angelic the male looks encompassed in the sweet embrace of sleep. It would surely be a lot sweeter than anything Baekhyun has ever offered him.

With a quivering finger, he glides the soft pad of his finger lightly down the bridge of Chanyeol's nose, touch feather-light as he mumbles a familiar tune under uneven breaths.

"Fly me to the moon,  
Let me play among the stars,  
Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars.  
In other words, hold my hand.  
In other words, baby, kiss me."

Baekhyun worries his lower lip between his teeth. He remembers how he'd felt when he'd first shut him out. The regret that had poisoned his blood. The feeling of knowing he should've kept the tall male close instead of forcing him away. The knowledge that he needed him to feel sane. Safe. Like he wasn't the only broken one in the galaxy.

But then he remembers why he'd pushed him away, why he refused to let him in. Chanyeol had thought it was because he was scared of it getting too serious, and he was half right. His decision was based on fear. The fear that Chanyeol sticking to Baekhyun will only ruin him. That Baekhyun's demons would seep into Chanyeol, like ink onto pure white paper. Because he's seen it happening, he knows what's going on. Chanyeol smiles are less bright, less blinding than they were when he first came onboard; he's draining the life out of him. He's like poison to Chanyeol, slow spreading yet effective, reaching all corners of his interior, blackening his insides, hardening his heart. He had to let him go to spare him, but now he has to fight the tiny voice within him that wants to beg for the taller to stay.

( Some would be deluded enough to call it love. Baekhyun thinks no love could ever be so selfish. )

He wants to stay with Chanyeol and him goofy smiles and his undeniable warmth, but he can't. He knows he can't. He doesn't have anything to offer the taller male for all he has within him are monsters. And Chanyeol deserves much better than Baekhyun's monstrosity. Because although he pretends to be conflicted - forces himself to be conflicted - he knows the answer that sings though his entire body. He knows what decision he has to make. He has known it ever since Kyungsoo had first offered him a choice last night, only he had wanted to deny it. He had wanted to deny that he was still the same, bloodthirsty bastard he was so many months ago. He wanted to believe he'd changed, that Chanyeol had changed him but his hand still itches for his sword and vengeance is still what keeps his heart pumping. His fingertips still ache for a peace that can only come through him slaying all his demons. It still consumes him. He's surprised he has the capacity to even ponder on the thought of love. There's no space for it inside of him, no matter how empty he claims his heart to be. His darkness takes up too much of him.

And that's what he has to change. That's why he has to do it.

He needs to do it once more, he needs to betray him once more because then and only then, only after giving way to all the evil within him can he be set free and be free enough to offer Chanyeol all of him.

If he were to still even want him.

"Fill my heart with song and let me sing forever more,  
You are all I long for all I worship and adore.  
In other words, please be true.  
In other words"-

The words stick to the back of his throat. He can't bring himself to finish the dreaded song. Not with the syringe hidden in his pocket.

The male on the bed stirs ever so slightly, eyelashes fluttering as he forces his eyes open to look up at him sleepily. The sight is so lovely Baekhyun has to clutch onto the glass cylinder for resolve. For courage.

"Baekhyun?" Chanyeol's raspy, low baritone calls out to him like a siren song. Like he's calling out for him to halt in his tracks, forget his plan, forget everything and just climb into bed so they can pretend that they're ok together. However, his muscles are not bold enough to give into him, just as his tongue isn't brave enough to able to force out a reply for him. Instead, he presses his lips together and injects determination into his restless veins.

With a shaky breath and a tightening grip around cool glass, he makes his choice.

"Baek-"

Chanyeol doesn't even get the second syllable out before a needle is in his neck. The betrayal painted clearly on his features is slowly slipping off as he drifts away into the hands of a deep slumber. Baekhyun almost lets himself pretend that he's just sleeping like he had been before.

Biting back the urge to never move from the taller's side, Baekhyun leans forward to drop a soft kiss onto Chanyeol's forehead, mimicking the action that the latter loves to carry out so much. "I'm sorry," he whispers against soft red curls before taking his leave, feet heavy as lead as they carry him to meet his destiny.

"In other words, I love you."

//

Baekhyun finds him in the outskirts of the capital. Captain Park sticks out easily enough, a single human weaving in and out between a small crowd of multi coloured aliens. He wears a cape of brown cotton, hood pulled over his head angled down towards the ground. Whether it's to shield himself from the relentless rays of Solaria's burning sun or to save himself from Baekhyun's predatory gaze, the latter doesn't know.

The old man wearily pumps gallons of fuel into his hovercraft, frail figure dwarfed by the large rucksack he has slung over his shoulders. It's almost like he's on the run, like he's trying to outpace the past that is set on catching up with him.

Blood boils like lava inside of Baekhyun's body as his smokey, midnight eyes follow his prey with hunger. Hunger for vengeance. He's on auto pilot now as he begins taking menacing steps closer to his target, forgetting everything else, forgetting the sleeping male he has left behind in his room, forgetting all the possible consequences and outcomes that could be born as the aftermath of his run-in with the Captain of his broken past.

Fine sand grains beneath the worn out soles of his boots drift away, creating a mini red hurricane and it stops him from forgetting for a second. It reminds him of someone he shouldn't think of right now. Not when he's about to kill his father.

( But he thinks of him regardless. Thinks of what was, of what could have been. He doesn't think of what will be because who knows what will happen to them after this? )

"Captain Park," Baekhyun rasps out to him once he's close enough, voice feral. His father's ice cold face flashes across his very eyes, the conjured sight causing his grip to tighten around his trusty longsword. The addressed man turns around slowly. His shoulders droop and a sigh wracks its way through his entire, tired body. He's been expecting this. He's been waiting for the moment where his sins could be laid bare for him to face.

"I've been looking everywhere for you," Baekhyun says with the bitterest of chuckles. It's dry, it's demeaning, it's demonic. All of a sudden it's like nothing has changed and Baekhyun is still the same man he was 6 months ago, before he'd met Chanyeol, before he'd ever felt the taller's light touch his dark soul. Humanity is replaced by animalistic animosity and Baekhyun wonders how he could ever have thought about passing an opportunity to carry out his revenge.

A few seconds tick by and the Captain that Baekhyun used to work under - slaved under - still doesn't say a word. He doesn't even look at him, eyes settled somewhere over his shoulder, to a far away past filled with mistakes he could never take back.

The silence that stretches between them only builds up the tension in the raven haired pirate's muscles, jaw painfully grinding teeth together out of pure detrimental wrath. He waits no longer before baring his teeth and unleashing his ire, fury unfurling across his features faster than a sand storm can take its form. He grabs the older man by his shoulders and slams him against the nearest wall, watches how he drops the device used to fill his vehicle's fuel tank and observes the thick black petrol that spills across red sand. He wants to spill red across it next.

No one notices them. If they do then no one cares. Solaria is solely focused on the idea of self-interest. No one else matters here but yourself. No one else is going to interfere or intervene. Nothing else matters right now except for Baekhyun finally getting to complete his life's mission. "I've been looking everywhere for you," he repeats himself, increasing the venom in his voice tenfold, closing the distance between them, cornering in on his prey. He doesn't know how else to describe the thrumming of his heart, the trembling in his body besides pure, unadulterated rage. His father's singing voice plays out in his ears again and again, urging him on like a reminder of why he has to do this. "After all the torture you have plagued upon my life, you don't even have it in you to look me in the eye? Do you even remember me, Park? Do you even know my name or am I still just a replaceable human being to you?"

Captain Park doesn't move. He shakes under Baekhyun's own unstable grip. Frustration rushes into his blood at his unresponsive target, it forces Baekhyun to rip off the hood covering the wretched face of the man before him so that he may watch his features twist in pain and regret when he finally drives his sword through his heart and ends all the torture. Baekhyun rips off the hood as oceans within dark, smokey eyes begin to overflow and spill past weakening barriers. Baekhyun rips off the hood and looks into the eyes of a dead man walking.

And he freezes.

He is not rendered shocked by what he sees. Had been expecting it, in fact. Had been hoping it would be what he'd find.

In those faded brown spheres all he sees is a ghost, haunted by the decisions of his past. Suddenly the sunken shoulders, the sunken cheeks, the sunken spirit make sense. The tension in Baekhyun's muscles drains out of his frame in a way he refuses to acknowledge, suspense bleeding out the air into nothingness. Shaking his head with such emptiness, the younger Captain stumbles backwards, svelte hands coming up to rub at his throbbing temples. This is not the Captain Park he'd remembered. This is not the pompous bastard, who spat words of hatred towards those he'd thought inferior to him. This is not the man who had ruined Baekhyun's life and took his father's without even a bat of an eyelash.

This is not a man Baekhyun can hate. And he's almost glad for that. This is a man just as lost as he is.

It seems a lot of people are these days.

//

When Baekhyun gets back onboard the Exodus a few hours later, Chanyeol is awake. He is awake and livid.

Before he can even register the movement, he is being slammed hard against the wall of his bedroom, not in an act of passion like he usually would be subjected to but in an act of pure fury. When his senses return to him, he looks fixedly into Chanyeol's eyes, the flamboyant rage within them unfamiliar to him and wonders if this is all his doing.

"What did you do, Baekhyun," Chanyeol spits at him, nostrils flared and eyes bloodshot. He looks torn between killing him and breaking down into hysterical sobs. A hand curls its way around his neck in a deathly grip and Baekhyun wonders if Chanyeol has it in him.

"I'm guessing Kyungsoo filled you in?" The shorter finds himself quirking a small smile at the corner of his lips, an intentionally cruel gesture that only makes the tall red head tighten his grip around his windpipe. The shorter relishes in it, lets out a shaky breath before gasping in another as he allows all the fight left in him to exude out his body. He accepts the punishment he knows he deserves. He no longer has anything to fight for, anyways. Chanyeol only lets out an animalistic growl in response, eyes burning like a furnace that threatens to swallow Baekhyun whole with the flames of his anguish.

Staring into Chanyeol's eyes now, Baekhyun can't take it. He can take a lot of things, can take the burning in his lungs, the scorn from the universe, the feeling of Chanyeol's ever tightening grip on him, but he can't take seeing the pain he has caused him. Even if suffocating in guilt is what he deserves. He supposes even villains have their limits.

The red head's eyes follow his movements sharply when the shorter male moves to pull something out of his pocket. Chanyeol's jaw clenches painfully as Baekhyun scrambles to pull out a thin bangle with intricate engravings of ancient letters and patterns from his pocket, snapping it around the hand that Chanyeol assaults him with. He briefly notices how beautiful it looks worn by the taller before his legs buckle beneath him.

Gritting his teeth, Chanyeol's eyes flicker between glaring at the man who is at the mercy of his wrath and the gleaming gold object around his wrist. Without much gentleness to his actions, he releases the man reluctantly, refusing to spare him another glance as he turns away from him. He allows his attention, currently focused on sprouting words of self-hatred over his inability to kill the damned pirate, to be stolen by the bracelet instead. He forces himself not to watch as Baekhyun collapses onto the floor as soon, forces himself to ignore the way the shorter's eyelids flutter dangerously as consciousness floods his lungs and forces himself to block out the sounds of him coughing and gasping for oxygen.

He doesn't the deserve his concern anymore, even Chanyeol himself knows that. Yet it's still all the taller feels in that very moment.

"It's from your father," Baekhyun manages to gasp out, though his throat burns. Burns from Chanyeol's touch. The latter's eyebrows quirk upwards in a silent question that Baekhyun hears loud and clear before he can stop himself. "I didn't kill him, Chanyeol. I wanted to but I couldn't. We talked instead, though. He says he's sorry. And he loves you. He hopes you can forgive him." As he relays this information he feels a pang of pity for the broken man he remembers. Tears had brimmed in his old Captain's eyes as they talked about what had happened so many years ago and what had happened after, but he'd never let them fall; a Captain, a man of honour, indeed. It doesn't mean he is any less resentful to the Captain who had caused him father's death, but rather that they had reached some sort of quiet truce that left Baekhyun feeling emptier than it should.

There is a beat of sickening silence before Chanyeol speaks up.

"And you?" he asks, angered breathing now slowing down to a more normal in and out after being assured the safety of his father. He fiddles with the new bracelet, feels the cool metal against his skin, admires the single black pearl that shines dully back at him but still doesn't look at the other male.

Baekhyun chuckles quietly, though he never wishes to speak again. He is not in the right state of mind to do anything besides sit there and let his buzzing thoughts consume him. He can't trust his mouth to filter any of the damning emotions that grow within him, they make him feel more vulnerable than he would like to let on. But he figures Chanyeol will refuse to talk to him after today - he most likely doesn't even want to talk to him now - so he should probably get a few things off his chest before he is exiled from the taller's life forever. "Me? Well, I'm definitely sorry - you know, for sedating you and all that - but love? I mean what even is love? Is it even real if it is, is it something like the feelings I have for you or is it something different? I do-"

"Baekhyun, that's not what I mean-"

"I do hope you forgive me, though," he raises his voice a little so he can be heard over Chanyeol's tired baritone though his scratchy throat protests and cracks on the last vowel. But that could just be down to the fact that his throat is closing up and his eyes are stinging. He's not sure. Not sure what to focus on, really. He just lost his entire purpose to live, let it slip through his fingers and yet here he is, trying to make things right with someone who will probably never forgive him after everything he's done to him.

( He doesn't even know how he can forgive himself. Even after all this time, he still feels so empty. Even after all this time, he's still a monster. )

Chanyeol gapes at the pirate dumbfounded and Baekhyun's heart flops uselessly by his side when he recognises the look he's been given to be one of uncertainty. Disbelief.

He feels hot. Baekhyun feels hot. He wants to run again.

"I meant, do you forgive him?" Chanyeol says instead when he's out of other words to say. When he doesn't know what words to say.

In his head, a single syllable that had awkwardly tumbled off Baekhyun's fumbling tongue plays on repeat and he ponders on it quietly. Love. Is it possible to love the lost? To love those who don't know how to reciprocate it? Is it possible to love when you're only half a soul? He looks at Baekhyun, seemingly more broken now than ever and witnesses all the ways in which a soul can fall apart.

No, he concludes. Baekhyun's not capable of love. Not yet. At least, not the normal kind of love.

( Chanyeol squashes down the small part of him that's willing to accept whatever sick, twisted form of half love that Baekhyun's capable of mustering up and offering. He doesn't know why he still continues to care. He doesn't know why he still continues to love. )

Baekhyun takes in a shaky inhale of cool air, letting his head drop back against the wall with a thud, neck tired from supporting a mind that's too full. The taller positioned a safe distance across the room from him resists the urge to slide his fingers through raven locks and gently rub at the lump that's no doubt forming underneath. He resists the urge to help. To fix.

He figures now that maybe his father was right about one thing; some things are too broken to fix.

Instead, he waits for Baekhyun's next words with bated breath.

"I was a fool for thinking getting revenge on one man would make my life instantly better." It's not the yes or no answer Chanyeol had wanted but he listens quietly anyways, moving to sit on the edge of their bed as Baekhyun's eyes grow redder with every passing second. He doesn't know how much longer he can call it 'theirs,' for. "Death and destruction has followed me every point of my life, Chanyeol. One more death wasn't going to make anything better. Granted it wouldn't have made anything worse either, but I suspected you wouldn't have been too happy with me."

"I'm surprised you thought of me at all," Chanyeol says quietly, his laugh is as cold and clipped as it was back in the dungeon when he had casually touched on the sensitive topic of how Baekhyun had pushed him aside like he was worth nothing. His words once again sink in too deep for the both of them to handle and bring a pregnant pause in tow. It is now Chanyeol's turn to feel like running away.

They can't bear to look at one another. The red haired captive settles his gaze on a random spot on the duvet whilst the other catches himself staring out the window, the view painted in the pale pink hues of a setting sun. They still have yet to depart from the planet where Baekhyun's life had fallen apart for the second time.

"I always think of you," Baekhyun whispers just when the atmosphere starts to smother them both, veiling over them like a thick cloud of ash. At the sound of his fragile voice, Chanyeol feels more suffocated than ever. "He looks like you, you know. With the big, round eyes. Goofy ears. I thought of you then, when I noticed all the similarities. I'm thinking of you now, too, even though you're right in front of me." The raven haired male lets out the bitterest of laughs, though he finds it difficult to even breathe with the pressure squeezing against his lungs, the stinging in the back of his throat and eyes. "I'm thinking of what could've been before I went and fucked everything up. But now I realise I've been fucking up for so long now, I don't even know where the breaking point was. Maybe it was always meant to be like this. Maybe we were never meant to fall into place like I wanted us to - and I did, I really did want us to. I thought maybe you could save me but I guess- I guess, maybe we were distant stars from the beginning-"

"Baekhyun-"

"I told him I loved you," he continues because he's feeling brave now, thankful for the way Chanyeol is easily silenced. "He asked how you were. I told him you were loved. It seemed to make him happy so I said it." A rippling quiet passes between them but Baekhyun tells himself that he cannot let this moment go. He tries again. He really wants him to understand. "I think I love you."

Now Baekhyun is resentful for the way Chanyeol stays silent. His nerves are on edge and his vision is being obscured by useless tears because he's lost everything including his pride and yet Chanyeol isn't even looking at him. He doesn't know how someone as empty as him can still have the ability to show such weakness. But then he realises that being a hollowed out shell of a person with nothing left to live for is probably the greatest weakness of all.

"Who's saying this?" Chanyeol asks after extending the silence out for a couple of beats too long, because he's actually really curious. "The Baekhyun who is consumed by anger and revenge and frankly doesn't seem capable of caring about anyone else besides himself or the Baekhyun who likes cuddling and singing and who I might actually be in love with, too?"

Now it is Baekhyun's turn to stay quiet. He digs his teeth in his lower lip with enough force that he tastes the metallic tang of blood on his tongue as he lets the first tear fall. He's glad that Chanyeol isn't looking at him now, he knows the taller would only give in and come comfort him. He needs Chanyeol to hate him. He needs to stop deluding himself into believing he could ever be loved, could ever be saved.

"I don't know."

Are they two different Baekhyun's? Are they so different that they can't be the same? Is either one even alive anymore? He doesn't know.

Chanyeol makes no effort to respond and Baekhyun leaves it at that, screwing his eyelids shut and wondering if this all means he can finally have some peace.


	8. VII

The singing haunts her in her sleep. It infiltrates her screeching eardrums, wraps around her insides and holds on with an unshakable iron grip. Merciless, maddening, beautiful beyond measure. It leaves her dreams drenched with sound.

It only grows louder as the seconds tick by. More clamorous. More deafening. More hungry. Tears flood her eyes, an ocean in turmoil. And though she tries to cover her ears, to block it out, to not fall for the sickly sweet timbre that carries in every note, she detects her defences slipping. Slipping. Slipping. Until finally, finally she gives in, lets the music wash over her like a stormy wave upon the sand, rewriting her fear into peace; until she longs to succumb to such euphonious music. Jump in headfirst into the turbulent waters below.

The honeyed harmonies dampen her clothes, soak her skin, drag her under the water's tremulous surface into the murky darkness. She's busy drowning in sound when she sees it.

A brief glimpse of yellow eyes that glow from the pits of the ocean. Sharp. Menacing. Bewitching.

They focus on her, narrowed on their target.

Their prey.

"You can't hide from me little one. I am inside of you. There is no escape," they call out to her. Even rasping, hissing threats sound so sugary sweet and saccharine in this world. If she were not so terrified she would hand herself over oh, so willingly.

She feels it coming closer. The owner of the eyes. Closer and closer, nearer and nearer still, until eventually, the darkness fades just enough for the eerie presence to take on its wretchedly beautiful form-

Seulgi awakens with a jolt, soaked in sweat that rests cold over her burning body. She sits up immediately, pulling her knees up to her chin while she shakes and chatters her teeth together, whispering practised words of condolence to herself as fresh tears mar her cheeks, running as icy as the bones beneath her skin.

"It wasn't real. It wasn't real. You're safe. You're-"

Something stirs beside her. A quiet rustling of bed sheets setting every hair on her body on end.

It's a hand. It's reaching out for her. Trying to grab her. Trying to-

She screams, kicking her feet out at the limb, pressing herself up against the headboard of the bed. Crying out for mercy between the bruising, heaving movements of her lungs.

"No! No! No!" she begs, moisture obscuring her vision. She doesn't see who the hand belongs to. Just knows she has to get away.

"Seulgi," a soft, concerned voice calls out to her. Not sickly sweet as the one in her dream had been, but croaky and dry from the remaining flakes of sleep that cling to the owner's vocal chords. Cracking. Real. Human. It has her shouts dying down in her throat.

Baekhyun, she realises, had been sleeping on the floor next to her bed and he looks up at her now, features contorted into an expression of worry. Oh, she thinks, suddenly feeling like a fool as her rapid breathing slows down to a more normal pace. She remembers begging him to stay last night, out of fear that her nightmares would return. She had been right.

He climbs up onto the bed next to her, movements carried out purposely slowly as if encountering a spooked animal but Seulgi takes no time in throwing her arms around him and releasing shuddered sobs into his chest.

"Another nightmare?" he asks her though he doesn't need much of a reply to know the answer. The spell of nightmares plague her every night, like a record stuck on repeat. Relentless. She relaxes enough under the soft touch he traces over the crown of her head to nod anyways.

He sighs quietly as he holds her shaking frame against his, enveloping her in whatever heat his cold body can offer her. She never tells him what she dreams of, what she sees at night that gets her so spooked. She's too secretive about her nightmares. Too secretive about herself as a whole. She's only a child and yet she holds so many secrets under her skin, holds back so many emotions. It won't do her any good, Baekhyun would know from personal experience. He has yet to know more about her: where she came from, where her parents are, what she had done to have wound up in a prison cell. And yet Baekhyun reckons none of that really matters to him. He's going to keep looking after her, keep protecting her no matter what. Even if she were to turn out to be a mass murderer, he himself would rather die at her hands before he let the little girl down.

When Baekhyun finally feels Seulgi's breathing evening out, tense body turning limp in his hold as she drifts off into a more peaceful sleep, he lays her head down to rest against soft pillows and pulls the duvet up to her chin. He presses a soft kiss to her forehead, smoothing over the skin with the pad of his thumb and silently wishes her sweet dreams before exiting the room, closing the door with a soft click.

( A child in a prison cell, he thinks to himself bitterly. How nostalgic.

He won't let her turn out like him. )

//

The sun greets Baekhyun, its light rays streaming in through the large windows, when he finally slinks back into his bedroom, feet heavy and mind cloudy. It's the strange sight for someone like Baekhyun who has grown accustomed to surroundings of pitch back, eerie darkness and it's not all that comforting either, for it only reminds the man that they have yet to depart from Solaria.

He sighs upon shutting the door to his room, the long, harrowing kind that makes his ribs feel like they're collapsing in on him. He hasn't been in here since yesterday's chaotic incident with Chanyeol. He hasn't seen the male since, either. He'd left the ship last night, stating a need to reunite with his father and, "clear his head." Baekhyun thinks what he really meant was that he needed to get away from him. He tries not to ponder too much on the thought of whether or not Chanyeol will come back at all.

Now that he's standing in the room once more, back pressed against the door and eyes dazedly fixated on the bare, white walls, he is hit with the uncertainty of where to go from here. The future has become a blur. Unclear, almost unwelcoming - though Baekhyun supposes he has always viewed it as such. He knows there's no other choice but to keep going forwards now, but forwards to where is the question. Backwards isn't an option. It never has been.

"Kyungsoo," he grumbles, rubbing away the remaining signs of sleep that cling to the tired muscles of his face. The other male bristles from his spot on the Captain's bed, unaware that the latter had even noticed his presence. "Can I help you?"

The other male doesn't reply straight away, blinking away subtle signs of shock and taking his time to carefully structure his words, arrange them in a way that would seem the most 'sensitive' though he has no idea how to be such a thing.

"Chanyeol refuses to eat breakfast. I'm guessing yesterday went horribly?" Judging by the way Baekhyun's face stiffens at the mere mention of their hostage's name, he did not do such a good job.

"He's back?" is all Baekhyun can ask as he toes off his shoes and pushes a tuft of limp black out of his line of sight. Kyungsoo nods and spares a moment to take in his Captain's haggard appearance. He hasn't changed since getting back from Solaria yesterday and his hair is lacking it's usual shining lustre. To put it shortly, he looks like a mess.

"He is - though I did not even know he'd left. The other crew mates say he returned around dawn. From meeting his father." The accusation in Kyungsoo's voice is unbearable and he looks at Baekhyun with a hardened demeanour and squared shoulders. "Is Captain Park still alive? What, are you saving him for dessert or something?"

Baekhyun chooses to look to the window, eyes locked on the specks of dust that dance within the streams of sunlight rather than reply straight away, allowing a short silence to stretch between the two. "Make sure Chanyeol eats," he sighs out after some thought to which Kyungsoo merely scoffs. The red head's name is ever sweet on his tongue, but it only makes his stomach churn with regret. With apology.

Despite Kyungsoo's growing impatience, he finds that his anxiety is also becoming amplified by how his Captain - his friend - who was not typically a man of many words in the first place seems a whole lot more withdrawn today than usual. He can't deal with this anymore. He needs answers. "I'll make sure to force food down his throat if you tell me what happened, Baek- I don't know anything- you avoided me all of yesterday and now you're trying to skip over the subject today too-"

"That's because nothing did happen, Kyungsoo," the Captain growls out, eyes rapidly turning glassy and red-rimmed. The Technician blinks, having a hard time reading his friend's flippant emotions when there's anything other than violent fury written across his features. He’s not used to it anymore. Has forgotten how to deal with all the vibrant emotions Baekhyun wields within his tired body for they have lied dormant for so long Kyungsoo had almost thought they were extinct.

"What," the alien garbles out, brows furrowing closer and closer together with every second he remains unanswered. Baekhyun takes to resting his body against the doorframe he has not moved away from since his entry. He tips his head back, knocking the crown of it against the door with a soft thud. And then he does it again. And again. And again. Kyungsoo's levels of unease skyrocket. He's seen so many varieties, so many shades of emotions crossing the Captain's face in the length of time that he has known him, but this helpless self-loathing just looks so wrong on him. "Baekhyun what's wrong-"

"I didn't kill him." It's spoken in a breathy whisper, barely inaudible above Kyungsoo's static, outbursts. But it resonates loudly enough to silence the most fervent of thunderstorms "I didn't kill him," he repeats just as softly when Kyungsoo’s muscles deflate and are injected with the same tiredness that never seems to leave Baekhyun.

Why? His second in command wants to ask but he finds he no longer has the will to stand and instead stumbles to take a seat on the edge of the Captain's bed, his mind nothing but a blank strip of white.

"So Chanyeol really has softened you," he muses after a short pause filled only by the incessant knocking of Baekhyun's head against hardwood. Kyungsoo doesn't dare look at him, only keeps his head angled downwards, eyes searching the floor for some sort of coping aid. 

"I prefer the word changed." Kyungsoo prefers it too.

"I prefer this Baekhyun, if I'm being honest." He looks up at him now, face ever emotionless though his eyes say enough. Baekhyun reckons Kyungsoo's gotten good at this whole 'feeling' concept. "You know what this means, right? You're free, Baekhyun. Be at peace now." But Baekhyun also reckons Kyungsoo still has a long way to go before he’s good enough at lying to succeed in convincing Baekhyun that he could ever be free of all things. And Kyungsoo knows it too. He knows the Captain better than most. Peace has never come easy for him. They're just empty words said in an attempt to help the Captain to move on.

Move onto what and where, though, neither of them know.

When Baekhyun lets out the bitter mutter of "how?" that sounds as horrible as it tastes, Kyungsoo expects it. He doesn't, however, expect his voice to crack so badly, nor does he expect for the Captain to blindly stumble his way over to him, vision obscured by the tears that brim in his eyes. He doesn't expect the heart-wrenching hiccups of, "I have nothing left," to leave Baekhyun's mouth, lips pulled back to release an ugly sob that bursts from his chest like a bubble breaking. "This was my entire life's work. Finding him- killing him. It was all I was living for - if you could even have called leading such a half life living - and. And yet I let it slip right through my fingers-" Kyungsoo wonders why his throat feels so small when his Captain crashes down onto his knees by his feet. The sight of him breaking down into ugly bawling that he smothers into his lap should be enough of an answer. "I let him go. I let him go. After all this time I let him go."

It is a familiar situation; Kyungsoo humming low and comforting as he cards calloused fingers through Baekhyun's dirty hair, smoothing back raven locks and running soothing fingertips over his scalp. It is not one they've been in for a while. It is not one Kyungsoo had thought they'd ever be in again, not after Baekhyun went all rogue, tortured soul on him. But here they are, here again; Baekhyun breaking and Kyungsoo stumbling after him to try and catch all the broken pieces of him that he has no idea how to put back together. That is a job he'd thought Chanyeol had taken over: a job Kyungsoo had lost due to his incompetence. It takes a human to understand - to fix - another human.

Despite it all, Kyungsoo's just glad that Baekhyun's back. The old Baekhyun. Before all the excessive doom and gloom - though there was plenty of that back then too. If only for a moment. He does his best to be there for him. He keeps silent as he listens to the human's soft sniffles, quiet whimpers, and takes in how his body shakes against his.

After a while, Kyungsoo looks down at the black head of hair buried into his lap and sighs. He wants to ask Baekhyun what he's going to do next, what he'll do with his life now that there's little left for him out in space. He doesn't ask though, for he knows Baekhyun is as clueless to his future plans as he is.

"I told Jongin I'd go back to him," he says instead, feels like although right now might not be the best timing, Baekhyun deserves to know.

His Captain and closest friend remains without words for a while, trying to grasp onto them and process them, understand them and what they mean. What they mean for them. Kyungsoo feels as if the seconds tick by far too slowly for his liking.

"So you're going back to Technos?" he finally says, the sound of his voice cracking painful for the both of them. Not really a question, not really a statement.

"Yes." Saying the words out loud make it sound a lot more final and definite. Like the curtains closing at the end of a play. Kyungsoo doesn't like it. "You're welcome to stay with us too. Start a new life and all that, Baek." Honestly, the Technician couldn't imagine his life any other way.

Unfortunately for him, Baekhyun has never thought that far ahead and even whilst he tries to now, he just can't see himself fitting into the equation.

"I wouldn't want to intrude," is his sniffled reply.

The Technician feels a slight twist in his gut. It's a dull pang but he supposes it would hurt a lot more if he hadn't seen it coming. It forces a sigh to tumble past his lips and for him to resume his soothing touch against Baekhyun's scalp.

"Baekhyun, please." He hates how it sounds like a plea. Please stay in my life. Please let me keep an eye on you. Please don't go creating trouble for yourself. Please just be at peace.

He hates how Baekhyun refuses to reply and instead smothers his broken sobs against the fabric of his trousers.

//

Chanyeol stares blankly up at the ceiling. He's been doing this for very much the majority of the day. His eyes are burning for whilst he'd tried to lose himself in the bumps and ridges in the painted surface above him, he'd neglected the importance of blinking.

"I'm sorry," his father's voice repeats in his mind. Fresh in his memory. His stomach stays very much neutral when he hears it this time, progress from the unbearable churning motion it had adopted after hearing it for the first time. He supposes after replaying the words for a couple of hundred rounds he's become immune to them, although he prefers to tell himself that it's the forgiveness sinking in.

He'd spent the night at his father's home. The old Captain had managed to do well for himself, using all the money he'd saved up from a life of working to settle down nicely on the foreign planet. He wasn't the only human in his neighbourhood and Chanyeol thought it was good, otherwise, his father would surely get lonely. He'd left at dawn with the promise to visit again but he doesn't know if he'll ever have the guts to see it through. If he'd be able to stomach the sight of his father so beaten down and broken whilst he tries to forget an old life riddled with regrets and build himself a new one.

Chanyeol supposes he, too, is a part of his old life now.

"Everything I've done - it was only because I loved you, son."

Love. Those four words remind him of the wrong face.

He groans, rolling over onto his front to bury his face into his pillow. It's not nearly as soft as the ones he'd grown accustomed to and he finds himself frowning. He's not used to being back in his own bed. It's an unnerving thought that has his ribs constricting painfully against his lungs.

"I'm sorry," his brain echoes as he finally stills himself. "Even monsters are capable of love."

This time, he pushes himself off his bed in a fit of irritation, nostrils flaring and heart burning. With unfocused eyes and white noise in his ears, he forces himself to get ready for dinner, rejecting all other thoughts. 'Monster' has too many wretched connotations attached to it. The same face from earlier that has his blood turning acidic and heart giving way is one of them.

//

Dinner feels surprisingly sombre tonight, though it may just be Chanyeol's undeniably sour mood tainting his thoughts to think so. Clad in a black suit and a dark blue, silk button up, he exudes an unapproachable aura that rolls off him in steady waves. It partners itself up with a scowl that settles over his features - once an unfamiliar expression that has since found itself a new home etched onto his face. He scans the table, observing the dozens of pirates who chatter quietly amongst themselves, a watered down version of their usual, rowdy banter. No one has tried to talk with him tonight and Chanyeol is thankful for it since he is not sure how well he'd take to social interaction in his current foul mood; irritable is a new shade on him.

He curses when he catches his gaze landing on the head of the table again, an occurrence that has already happened one too many times for his liking. Kris, who sits beside him tonight, shoots him a wary glance at the sound of his grouchy mumbles. Chanyeol ignores him and sinks further into his seat with a huff.

Baekhyun hasn't spoken much this evening, either. Not that Chanyeol has particularly been paying any attention. The Captain had chosen to brood quietly over his soup for the majority of tonight's dinner, occasionally exchanging pleasantries with his crew but nothing more. He has also chosen, it seems, to forgo his chains for today. Chanyeol recalls the wolf whistles and cat calls that had flooded the ship as soon as the Captain sauntered in, ravishing in his usual dark clothes and even darker eye make up yet glowing with a new found raw ethereality with the absence of his ever present chains. Even his lip ring was gone. Chanyeol couldn't blame the crew for loving his new look - he too had been a big fan - however, he can't help but grit his teeth - and scold himself - at the thought of how Baekhyun looking so pure and vulnerable, even with all the kohl rimming his eyes, should be a sight reserved only for him.

The devil scrapes his chair against the floor as he stands up, immediately stealing Chanyeol's attention away as if he hadn't been commanding it all along. His presence instantly electrifies the room, triggering a thick blanket of silence to befall over his men. With it comes palpable tension, raining down over them like a monsoon.

The Captain smiles ever so softly at his crew and then down at the little girl who sits by his side, practically radiating beauty as he offers her an affectionate stroke on the head. Chanyeol hurriedly downs the rest of his wine glass at that thought. Baekhyun only begins to glow brighter and Chanyeol can’t bring himself to resent it.

"Listen up, everyone," ethereality personified says after clearing his throat. "As some of you probably know - or should I say all of you, since you're all blabber mouths," - a ripple of laughter breaks the growing tension if only for one second - "I have reached the end of my quest."

‘Ah, they know,’ Chanyeol thinks begrudgingly. He wonders how many others are involved in the story that was just meant to be about the two of them.

"This means that whatever I have been doing out in space - pirating some call it, searching sounds like the better word; for him; for myself - is coming to an end. As is my time as your Captain."

Chanyeol almost fools himself into believing 'him' had actually meant him until he realises he'd gotten the wrong Captain Park.

With another inhale of dark red liquid, he lets his mind wander to the tenderest reaches of his imagination. If they'd met under different circumstances, would they have worked out then? Would they have fallen into place like they should have? Like they were meant to? Like they’d so hoped they would? Would he still be the same Chanyeol he was so long ago? No, he thinks. They would not have met at all, under any circumstances if not these. If they did then they would be meet as two entirely different people who Chanyeol is not sure would have even spared each other a single glance. Chanyeol hates it, hates how his old self would've allowed himself to go on living without knowing such an enthralling creature and his true worth because he'd be too busy chasing mermaids and their princes.

Not knowing Baekhyun would have been the greatest mistake of his life. But knowing him was too. So then he is left with a paradox. A riddle with no answer. A maze with no end. Only a dull ache in his chest to remind himself he's still in constant pain.

"I have made many friends along the way - enemies too, by the bucketload," Baekhyun continues on. Chanyeol wonders which category he fits into. Neither, perhaps. "But I cannot keep dragging you all around with me on this hunk of metal for no legitimate reason so I have decided that tonight marks the final night in which we are all together as one for, after today, you are all relieved of service."

A ripple of gasps, quiet murmurs and crestfallen looks plague the room. Chanyeol joins in with none of these things, choosing instead to squeeze his eyes shut and tip his head upwards to face the ceiling. His mood is lower than ever. Just thinking about what he'll do after this - after Baekhyun, after the Exodus - causes his temples to throb.

"We'll be docking on Technos tomorrow. You are free to go your own separate paths from there onwards. I wish you the best in your future endeavours. It was an honour to be the Captain of such a loyal and rowdy bunch of rebels. I won't forget it." Baekhyun ignores the sight of his entire crew tearing up and the telltale pinpricks of pain at the backs of his own eyes as he turns to Kyungsoo, whose large eyes brim horribly with pain. Baekhyun almost feels guilty. "Kyungsoo," he says ever so tenderly, the foreign tone causing his friend to flinch. "The Exodus is yours, I bestow her upon you. She was always more yours than mine, I'll have to admit. Thank you for being my companion all these years." And then he lifts his wine glass that he holds with a shaking grasp in a toast, masking his own pain with a beautiful smile pulled too tight at the corners.

Kyungsoo's mouth opens and closes, a million, silent unsaid words tumbling out at once yet none at all as he raises his own glass weakly. "What- What about you, Baek? What are you going to do?" It is all too clear to the Captain's closest friend that the offer to stay with him had been rejected. He didn't even need to ask. He just needs to know what's next.

There is a beat of silence that passes between the two and the entirety of the ship. They wait with bated breaths for his answer.

"I don't know."

//

An impromptu party ensues after that. A bid farewell, of sorts. The booze was brought out and soon the heavy atmosphere was drowned in the intoxicating liquid and things took a lot more lively turn. Pirates twirled each there around to the music that blasts through the speakers overhead, many hugged and cried even in their drunken states while others grinded and partied like no tomorrow. Somewhere in the background, Luhan even engages Minseok - his newly found toy - in an intensive and highly inappropriate fondling session.

Chanyeol, however, stays silent in his corner of the room.

It's like Baekhyun's birthday shindig all over again, only this time he is looking at anything but him. Instead, he has his head dipped low and is focusing on intensely staring at his freshly polished black boots. He can see his reflection within them. If he concentrates hard enough, he can almost pretend like he doesn't feel the hard set of eyes that drill into the side of his head. Though the fact that the owner of the owlish orbs is stalking over to him isn't much of a help.

"Chanyeol," Kyungsoo greets smoothly, not even bothering to ask before he pulls out a chair to sit next to him. He'd made his way over faster than the taller had anticipated.

"Kyungsoo," he hums back without looking up, voice sounding nonchalant as ever though the bitter burn of betrayal chars his insides. It's a feeling he's gotten used to no matter how wrong the sentiment should be. The Technician clearly detects his emotions loud and clear - and here Chanyeol thought people of his race weren't meant to be good at sort of thing - for he sighs and slumps his shoulders.

"Listen, I'm sorry about showing Baekhyun the file, but you know it was wrong to keep it from him just as I did."

This time Chanyeol does look up. Utterly appalled. He doesn't know why Kyungsoo is turning this around to make him out to be the bad guy, as if what he'd done didn't mean anything at all, as if he could just crack the non-tasteful joke of, "haha, Baekhyun could've ended up killing your father because of what I did- but he didn't!" and make it all better.

"Oh, did I?" he finds himself snapping because, let's face it, every extra second he spends on this damned ship, he finds himself growing more and more disagreeable, becoming more and more like the Captain of this messy rabble. "If I had truly known then I wouldn't have kept it from him."

Kyungsoo furrows his brows at his sarcastic retort, eyes flashing violet. "Let go of your childish ways, Chanyeol. I gave it to him to help him, so he could finally be free of this- this stage in his life-"

"Even though you know it put my own father at risk?" Chanyeol cuts in, the hurt evident in his voice and his demeanour. His eyes turn glassy and Kyungsoo becomes silent, more for a lack of understanding than anything else. Why should Kyungsoo care whether Chanyeol's father dies or not?

"Ok, let me rephrase," the red head muses darkly when he gets no response, suddenly feeling like he needed to be a lot more drunk to take part in this conversation than he currently was. "You expected me to hand over the file to Baekhyun even when I knew that my father's own life was at risk? What kind of a fool do you take me for? I may love Baekhyun but-" The word tastes all too wrong on his tongue when it slips past and Chanyeol curses the way Kyungsoo's eyes widen in evidence that he'd indeed heard it. He wasn't meant to say that out loud. Ever. Even the mere thought of acknowledging that he harboured such feelings towards the unattainable man was ludicrous. Chanyeol had imagined, however, that if he were to one day bring himself to admit it, it would be to none other than Byun Baekhyun himself.

Shaking his head, he tries again. "I may care about Baekhyun but in truth, I wasn't planning on giving the file to him at all. I was hoping he would give up on his search and he could just move on with his life. Settle down maybe." With me, was left unspoken; another thing Chanyeol would never bring himself to admit for it was a thought that didn't make sense even to him. "But then you went and gave him that file; you went and ruined it all. Ruined us."

Kyungsoo grits his teeth, wondering if the brooding, tipsy man in front of him was truly the one Baekhyun had given himself over too. He could not possibly have chosen such a lowly man for himself.

Kyungsoo likes Chanyeol, he does. But Kyungsoo does not like Chanyeol for Baekhyun. It blatantly conveys itself in his tone when he next speaks. "Then you clearly don't know our Captain, sealegs. You're not worthy of his heart when you're so blind to the fact that he would stop at nothing to-"

"You're right!" Chanyeol exclaims, more hysterical than anything else. Kyungsoo is, once again, rendered speechless. If Baekhyun is an uncontrollable flame that sets off sparks left and right, then Chanyeol is a controlled, steady burn, one that's no less scalding; capable of morphing into a furnace if so needed. "I don't know Baekhyun at all. If anything, my time aboard this ship has proved that to me more than anything. I can try to tell myself I know him but it's just not true. I don't know why he keeps pushing me away, I don't know why he didn't actually kill my father I - I just don't know him." Kyungsoo's almost feeling sorry for his horrible choice of words - a completely human sentiment that he will no doubt blame on his prolonged exposure to the red head and his Captain - but then Chanyeol's demeanour is darkening and Kyungsoo is a lot more annoyed than he is sorry. "But don't you for a second, Soo, tell me that I'm not worthy of Baekhyun's heart. All I've ever done is try to be worthy of it, try to get him to open up to me, to let me in. By efforts alone, I should be worthy of his entire existence."

Kyungsoo thinks he's wrong. No one will ever be worthy of even an inch of Baekhyun, much less his entire existence. Baekhyun was special in that sense. His creation too beautiful - too much - for this entire, bloody galaxy. So alive. The perfect embodiment of human sensitivity and resilience. He flares his nostrils in irritation because why doesn't Chanyeol get it?

"It's impossible to know our Captain. He's a paradox in himself. You just have to believe in him, Chanyeol!"

Kyungsoo knows. Kyungsoo knows better than anyone else. He's known the Captain the longest, he's been by his side since even before the Exodus had been built, he has been on this journey with Baekhyun ever since the start. Chanyeol may think he's the only one that can stand a chance at truly knowing Baekhyun, but he's wrong. Kyungsoo is the only one. And that's why he has to make Chanyeol understand.

Baekhyun will break and bend and bruise under the pressures of the universe. Anyone would. The only difference with Baekhyun is that he mends himself: he evolves, he changes, he reverts back to normal and you just have to sit through his suffering, through his mistakes, through his darkest times and have faith that he will come back to you, that he will fix himself, put himself back on the right path - though at times he doesn't trust his own judgement - otherwise there's no point in staying with someone who is as versatile as the wind; a soft breeze one minute and a raging hurricane the next. There is no point. Baekhyun's moral compass and his conscience - though he buries them deep within himself - is strong enough to always have him coming back to what's good. And if Chanyeol can't see that then there's no point in Kyungsoo letting him have his closest friend's heart.

"How can anyone so blindly believe in someone?" Chanyeol all but scoffs.

"Because you know they're a good person." It's a soft whisper compared to Kyungsoo's former outburst and this time, it's Chanyeol who remains silent.

Rubbing at his jaw in irritation, Kyungsoo shakes his head. "These men, Chanyeol, they're not here because they enjoy pillaging and raiding and have some sort of thirsty, animalistic bloodlust - though I wouldn't put it past some of them. They're here because they owe Baekhyun. Each man aboard this ship has a special connection with him, is indebted to him one way or anther. Some owe him their entire lives. He took them out of bad situations, saved them when no one else could or bothered to. And because of this, they trust him wholeheartedly. They have experienced his kindness first hand and have faith in the person he is."

Kyungsoo's not the best at explaining, he's not the best at conveying feelings but he hopes Chanyeol hears his meaning wholeheartedly anyway. Don't give up on him, his heart wants to scream.

"And you?" the redhead asks, eyes dead serious though Kyungsoo really has to wonder whether he's missing the point. "What do you owe him?"

It's something Kyungsoo's never really thought about before. He's never had a need to. He just kept giving himself to Baekhyun, without a thought, without question. And, he supposes, that's the way it should be.

"I owe him whatever I choose to hand over to him: my loyalty, my obedience, my clear judgment. My love. He took me away from a dreary place, you see. Technos is beautiful but there's only so much you can do, so much you can experience when the people around you live like the machines they build," he breathes in shakily as he remembers the past memories of him and Baekhyun in their shared apartment, spending every waking second in the garage, building the Exodus from scraps of metal into her current glory. He remembers summer nights and winter days and how Baekhyun was an entire shining spectrum in a world of dull monochrome. "Baekhyun was human, he was feeling. He's a human who feels more than most even though he'd try and convince himself otherwise. Even when he was lost, he felt the emptiness more than anything."

It hits Chanyeol then. Like a god damn truck. Though it's more a slight knock than a full on collision because honestly, it had always been there. Right in front of him all this time. Of course. How could he not have noticed?

Everything Kyungsoo had ever done was for Baekhyun. And he'd done it all without question.

"You were in love with him weren't you, Kyungsoo?" He doesn't ask if he still is. Doesn't know how he could ever compete.

The slant of Kyungsoo's lips is answer enough. "Of course I loved him. As if that were ever the problem here." He doesn't even pretend to be bashful about it. "You imagine being in my shoes, bored out of my mind, setting out on the path of being a mechanic just like my father had, and his father had before him, and then all of a sudden, a fireball like Baekhyun drops into your life. I was putty in his hands." Chanyeol does. He imagines it. He lives it. Even now, he lives it. "He opened my eyes. Taught me new things. I wanted so badly to be like him. To feel. Whenever I go back home my parents tell me I've become more and more like a human. I can't say I mind. He introduced me to Jongin, you know. We rescued him from a dire situation and he told me to give him a chance and so I did."

Ah yes, Jongin. Chanyeol feels stupid for the way he feels relieved at the mention of Kyungsoo's current lover.

"I couldn't keep pining away for a man so emotionally unavailable. I thought that was what I was but Baekhyun was more so in ways unimaginable." The dry chuckle Kyungsoo lets out is grating. He isn't here to talk about his own failed love story. He has a different mission for today. He turns now, blazing eyes boring into Chanyeol's who can't move under his meaningful gaze. Can't breathe. "But you got through to him, Chanyeol. You did. The Baekhyun I used to know, he would have killed your father without a second thought, all he wanted was to set himself free and he did that through doing what he had to do. But he didn't this time. Because of you. Because he thought of you. Because you taught him what loneliness was and he saw that reflected in your father's eyes."

It's like a tidal wave no - it's more than that. More than a bolt of thunder, more than an avalanche of snow, more than an entire god damn freight train hitting him in the middle of the night - Chanyeol doesn't know what it is but it hits him. And once it does, he knows he can't go another second without seeing Baekhyun.

"I have to go," he rasps out but Kyungsoo is already nodding. He already knows. Chanyeol is up on his feet before he can even register it, mind alight with a thousand different thoughts, the ground beneath him turning into clouds as his feet take him to the one destination his heart cries out for.

Baekhyun.

The silver light that trickles in via the windows comes from Technos' nearest moon. They're not far from their destination now and the full moon greets them beautifully, its bright particles falling over the makeshift dance floor in a veil of shimmering dust. It's a little smaller and more sparsely packed than it had been for Baekhyun's birthday party but the latter doesn't look like he minds as he and a couple other pirates dance around a giggling Seulgi.

It's almost a sweet picture.

But it's one that's cruelly, quickly ripped apart by the bone chilling scream the little girl lets out as she crashes to the floor in convulsions as soon as the moonlight hits her skin. Her back arches off the floor and her hair spreads out by the feet of the men like a golden puddle of blood. They all stagger back in alarm. The lights flicker above their heads, the hall turns into a panic zone, shouts and screams and the smashing of glass echoing around them all whilst Chanyeol finds himself looking on at the chaos unfolding in before him with widened eyes. Paralysed.

"Seulgi!" a harrowing voice cries out. An all too familiar voice that has Chanyeol's heart lurching and finally gives his feet motive to move. He's behind Baekhyun before he even knows it, not wasting another second in contemplation to collect the man in his arms, pull him flush against his chest and drag him far away from the circle of men who fearlessly - or foolishly - begin to surround the small girl.

"Chanyeol, let go of me!" Baekhyun screams, sounding hysterical now. His eyes are fixed on the little girl and he struggles against his once lover's grip, every fibre in his being wanting to go over to her and check if she's alright, to protect her even though she may be the thing they require protection from.

From the center of the room, Seulgi howls in pure agony, pleas for mercy gushing from her lips like a mantra, a frenzied prayer. Her short fingernails curl into long, claw-like structures that tear apart her clothing, swipe at any hand that reaches out for her to draw blood with a mere touch, sending skin blistering and bubbling underneath her fingertips. The men who end up caught in her clutches drop like flies, groaning or crying out as their knees hit the floor, unable to move from the sheer pain that wrecks havoc on their nerve ends. A single scratch has them immobile.

Chanyeol refuses to let Baekhyun go, arms only holding onto the man who thrashes against his grip tighter and tighter as he watches the men around Seulgi drop one by one with horror. He clings onto the shorter for dear life. Dread pools in his veins when he realises Baekhyun doesn't seem to sense the imminent danger that Chanyeol knows is coming.

"No, Baekhyun it's not safe-"

"What are you talking about Chanyeol? Seulgi needs me-"

"Baekhyun stop-"

And then all sounds stop altogether. All movement. All thoughts. For all that invades the air now is nothing but a sweet, soft, singing voice that spreads through the room, reaches out and feels for the men that stand stock still in their terror before infiltrating their ear drums. From there onwards, the melody sinks down into their muscles, coaxing them lovingly to relax, luring them warmly to seek out where such music comes from, to follow the sound towards the centre of the room, towards the enchanting singer. Towards Seulgi.

The girl has stopped screaming now, swapping her strained vocals for those of more saccharine qualities. She looks tranquil as ever as, sitting up letting her luscious golden tresses fall down her back and welcomes every pirate who stumbles towards her voice with a chilling smile.

Chanyeol knows what this is. He's heard tales of it before. He thought that was all they were; old sailors' tales. But as he watches Seulgi beckon a pirate over to her side, drop a kiss against his cheek before opening her mouth wide, unhinging her jaw to reveal nothing but rows of endlessly sharp canines, he realises his nightmares were far more real than he thought. And far more terrifying in the flesh.

A siren.

A siren had taken over Seulgi's body. Or maybe she always was one. Chanyeol doesn't know. Chanyeol can't think. Because all he knows right now, all he can think about is one name.

Baekhyun.

The singing stops briefly while she digs into her prey. She takes care not to make it too messy, the way she rips his throat open and savours the taste of human flesh. Chanyeol supposes it's less out of mercy, for monsters - real monsters - surely can't be capable of such a thing, and more because the siren had not wanted to stain her pretty dress. The brief pause in the melody is enough to give Chanyeol control over his limp limbs, to press his hands over Baekhyun's ears and drag him further to the corners of the hall where the siren won't notice them. For now, at least.

"This isn't happening," Baekhyun whispers, bewildered, and Chanyeol feels a pang of sympathy. It is nothing compared to his animalistic urge to protect him. "This isn't real." Baekhyun has never been so terrified as he is now. Chanyeol would be too if he didn't have the smaller male to save. He can't afford to be afraid right now.

The shorter male has been reduced to nothing but a babbling mess. He shakes his head and trembles against Chanyeol, eyes suspended on Seulgi and nothing else. He refuses to walk any further, heels dragging when Chanyeol tries to haul him towards the exit. The man will be the death of them both. They're running out of time.

"You have to get out of here," Chanyeol whispers to Baekhyun, just as the singing starts up again. It settles over his skin, pulling a shudder from him before seeping in through his pores, spreading out like liquid melody in his veins. He curses when his feet itch to move. Pressing his hands over Baekhyun's ears tighter and clinging to him like a rock, he fights to urge to succumb as if the raven haired male were the only thing who could save him. Ironic in the darkest of ways. Sweat beats at Chanyeol's temples from the strain of resisting such a strong pull, but somehow he still manages to hold on. For Baekhyun he holds on.

Some men had taken the chance of the siren's momentary silence to flee the scene. Whether it's to lock themselves up in their rooms or to get a weapon from the store, Chanyeol isn't sure. He guesses it may be the former for no one here has the guts to raise a revolver against a little girl. Not when they know the Captain will probably still be willing to protect her with his own life. Other men, however, are frozen still, in horror, fear, confusion, just as their Captain is. They clamp their hands over their ears in a feeble attempt to guard themselves though Chanyeol believes they've all missed the small window of opportunity they had to escape.

"Oh, you taste so sweet, my love," the siren muses out, voice ever sugary even in speech. The voice sounds nothing like a child. She has 4 bodies surrounding her now, scarlet seeping into her pretty party dress and dying her fingertips vibrant despite her attempts at being a clean eater. It seems with every soul she sucks in, she just grows hungrier, more feral. Red drips down from the corners of her mouth, staining the teeth she puts on display in the form of a maddening smile. Baekhyun watches in horror as she pulls a body closer. It belongs to a Choi Minki who had been a new recruit from last year. She lures his soul out from his limp body with a simple touch of her lips against his mouth that had been left wide open to form a final, silent scream. He has to shut his eyes. He has to look away.

The only thing keeping Baekhyun sane is the warmth exuding from the hands that wrap themselves over his ears, blocking out the deadly sweet melody.

He should run. He should go. He should drag Chanyeol with him. He needs to snap out of it.

He takes a single step back, a single move to make a run for it but a single turn is all Seulgi needs to be alerted of their presence. Her eyes are tinged yellow when Baekhyun's lock onto them. Pupils contracted into razor-thin slits pin him to his place but they are soon skittering away to rest on someone else. Over his shoulder. Behind him.

Baekhyun has never felt fear like this before. No. Anyone but him.

Her voice, when she speaks again, is nothing like her usual bright, tone. If anything it is sultry, alluring. It's not Seulgi. That's all Baekhyun knows. It's not her. It's someone else - something else within her. The revelation has relief churning in his stomach, merging with rising dread and it's such a sickening mix of flavours but Baekhyun doesn't care. They have a chance to save her.

"Why don't you come over, sweet thing?" the siren sings with a quirk of an eyebrow. Baekhyun thinks he hears stuttered breathing but it's not his own. No. It belongs to someone whose life matters more than his own. He dares himself to look over his shoulder with slowly widening eyes. Chanyeol's drenched in sweat, eyes quickly losing any sign of focus or fight in them and his muscles are relaxing at the sound of the melodious syllables that enchant him. "Come on, love," she coaxes him, a seductress trapped in a child's body.

Baekhyun shakes his head, tears blurring his vision as Chanyeol's hands fall away from his ears to rest limply at his sides. The taller doesn't look at him, probably can't bear to, as he steps around him and makes his way over to Seulgi with slow, heavy steps, resistance draining from his body with every passing second.

Baekhyun hears her song now, feels it tugging at the muscles in his limbs, at his heart. It's painful to fight against it, like you're at war with your own body but Baekhyun is prepared to fight in this siege if it means he won't lose Chanyeol. If he can save Seulgi. If he can just fucking do something-

He does the only thing he can think of. He grabs onto Chanyeol's wrist with both hands, clings onto him though it's almost futile. He puts all his strength into slowing the man down, stopping him from walking towards his own death. But Chanyeol, under his trance, is too strong for him, his body too stubborn and his movements only cause Baekhyun's feet to slip under him, dragging him in the same direction he walks. In the direction of Hell.

The men who stay at the corners of the room - ears covered though they all know they're merely waiting for their turn to be devoured - look on with amplified horror as their Captain breaks down into hysterics while trying to hold his lover back. He should run. He should leave him. It's a lost cause. They're all thinking the same thing but Baekhyun doesn't have the capacity to be so selfish. Not now. Not anymore.

"My, my, a two-course dinner. How lovely," Seulgi coos when Chanyeol is close enough for her to reach out and touch. Her claws dig into his forearm, staking a claim on her next meal, feeling the glorious way his warm blood trickles over her fingertips. She smirks. "Feasting on a pair of lovers always tastes so god damn sweet."

And then, she sings. The pull between her and Chanyeol is stronger now, nothing is more powerful than her singing; concentrated sound directed at her prey. She knows it's the most beautiful voice in the world and she relishes in it, loves every resonant note she produces from her throat, drinks up how it dazes the lowly human and runs over his skin like thick honey. She beckons him closer and closer - closer still - before letting a hand trail up the back of his neck, drawing blood under her nails with every inch of skin she brushes against. His flesh melts under her touch and he melts under her gaze. Oh, so limp and pliant. She loves it when they don't put up a fight. Why fight something you can't win against? She's ready to graze her lips against his, to eat him alive - because they always taste better that way, lusting for her call, ready for her taking, drenched in the delightful marinade of her sound - when Baekhyun does the unthinkable.

"Seulgi no!"

It takes everything in him to push Chanyeol away, every ounce of strength he can gather in his protesting muscles. The taller male slides about a meter away at the impact, immediately knocked - quite literally - out of his trance. He hisses at the burns the siren had left against his skin, pain from his newly opened wounds paralysing him on the spot as he quickly regains control over himself and assess the situation.

He wonders for a brief second why he is still alive when he sees it. Sees his answer. Sees Baekhyun in his place. And then he curses it all. He's always saving him. Always. Even when Chanyeol tries to be the hero, Baekhyun always has to steal his thunder. With nothing but adrenaline and pure, unadultered fear coursing through his veins, he grits his teeth and attempts to push himself up onto his feet.

"Seulgi, Seulgi it's me-" he hears Baekhyun say, a garbled choked little sound coming from his throat as the siren digs her claws into his thigh, tightening with ever passing second. She is not pleased with him interrupting her meal.

"I am Seulgi," she hisses. It sounds demonic. Nothing like the dulcet tunes from earlier. She trails her fingertips along Baekhyun's collarbone, causing the skin to bubble into blisters. At the sound of Baekhyun's pained screeches, Chanyeol physically aches to scramble onto his feet, to go over there and save him but his body won't respond to him in the way he wants it to. The agony he's in is paralysing. Both in body and in soul.

Baekhyun doesn't give up, though. Stubborn until the end. He looks the siren hard in her yellow, devilish eyes, thinking he could call out to Seulgi like this even though it makes him all the more vulnerable to her call.

The siren smirks, thinking her prey might as well have presented himself on a silver platter with an apple in his mouth. Just as she is preparing herself to devour her hunt for all he's worth, Baekhyun takes one more chance. He calls out once more.

"Seulgi, please."

Nice try, but it's not going to work, the siren thinks. However, within the next second, she is losing control of her hand that relinquishes its hold on him without her permission. Like she's not in control of her own body anymore. Baekhyun drops down onto his knees in a cry of pain, taking in stuttered breaths through gritted teeth whilst the siren lets out something between an angered howl and a shocked gasp before her constricted pupils dilate back into a more normal size, claws retracting back to shaking, child like fingers that drip with fresh, red liquid.

"B-Baekhyun," a young, bright voice dampened with terror cries out to him as a siren's soul leaves a child's body.

The entire hall's congregation holds their breath, unsure whether to believe that the whole situation was over. It seemed too easy. Too fleeting. Tears overwhelm Seulgi and shudders of grief wrack her tiny frame until finally, she is collected into a pair of warm, familiar arms. Baekhyun presses her face against his chest without hesitation to obscure the chaos and destruction surrounding them from her sight and allows himself to breath a sigh of relief though pain is all he really feels.

The action earns himself a collective gasp from his remaining crew members but when Baekhyun lives another minute, they all allow themselves to relax. For now.

//

A damage control meeting ensues after the listless clear up job of the main hall. The bodies had been placed in a spare storage room to be taken off the ship and properly buried when they land in Technos soon. Baekhyun stands in the center of a different meeting room - for no one could stomach being in the main hall anymore - surrounded by his shell-shocked team mates.

The injured are being tended to by the untouched, Baekhyun having had his own pretty serious wound treated earlier on, whilst others look off into space with a dazed expression and blank minds, unwilling to process what had just happened. There is an uneasy silence that hangs in the air around them. No one dares speak.

When Baekhyun does clear his throat as a silent request for attention, a few men flinch, wrenching a feeling of apology from his gut. Kyungsoo, situated at his right, rests a warm hand on his arm, soft and encouraging though it trembles ever so slightly. He had stayed in the hall for the entire ordeal, though he did not get physically caught up in its mess. Chanyeol stands to his left, though he keeps himself a few feet too far away for Baekhyun's own comfort.

Baekhyun sighs and runs a hand over his face before he speaks. "Seulgi is in bed and back to normal," just her name is enough to send a shiver crawling down everyone's spine. "She told me her father took her to the beach one night where he tracked down a siren and managed to kill her. However, to get her revenge the siren's eternal soul chose to reside inside Seulgi's body. That's why she was down in the dungeon when we first picked her up. She's never told anyone this before, was too scared to and whilst I agree she should've let us know sooner-"

"Four of our men were eaten by her. Sooner is an understatement," Jongdae blares from his corner of the room, arms snaked tightly around Junmyeon's waist as if someone were to snatch him away. Baekhyun notices Chanyeol bristle and grit his teeth at Jongdae's derivative tone in his peripheral vision, though he chooses to ignore them both. Jongdae is merely speaking out of grief. He was close to Minki before his demise.

"Not eaten by her, but by the siren within her," Baekhyun clarifies, surprised he himself hasn't snapped at his crew member yet. He must be too exhausted to.

"You should get rid of that girl, Captain, before she does anyone else any harm," Kris says up from his perch atop a wooden crate, not in any sort of passive aggressive way but as a form of sincere advice from the concerned. Baekhyun still has to count to 10 in his head and let out a long breath before he responds. He'd expected such opposition - such opinions - and was prepared to shoot them down as soon as those brave enough to speak out did, but Kris was one of his original crew members. He will not be harsh with him.

His composure is icy cold, soiled with stubbornness when he speaks next. "Seulgi is my responsibility and I will have no harm coming to her. I will not merely 'get rid of her.' Besides, we are going to dock at Technos in the morning and most of you will go your separate ways and will not be involved in the business with Seulgi and I any longer. I will find a way to help her-"

"I think Kris is right, Baekhyun," Chanyeol chimes in, utterly unwanted and yet utterly unafraid to voice his thoughts. He looks at Baekhyun with sincere, soft eyes for the first time since last night, for the first time since their fallout and Baekhyun would really rather he didn't. The heavy concern in his voice is nothing short of infuriating. Those who know him best should know nothing they say will change his mind. Either Chanyeol is not one of those people or he is a fool for thinking Baekhyun will back down at his command. "She's not safe to be around, you should-"

"Get rid of her?" Baekhyun supplies for him, lashing out in a way that makes Chanyeol falter. "You want me to take her out and shoot her between the eyes, Chanyeol? Make her walk the bloody plank?" It's been a while since Baekhyun has snapped so harshly at someone and it is clear in the way Chanyeol furrows his brows together that he doesn't appreciate it one bit. Baekhyun feels guilty, he really does. He hates the way his stomach flips with dread at the sight of Chanyeol's angered expression but to even suggest that Baekhyun does anything but try to save the girl was practically heresy.

Chanyeol must have learnt a thing or two on how to deal with him for he's taking a step forward, face hard as steel and Baekhyun would be unnerved if he weren't already so enraged. "It's a horrible thing to even imagine, I know Baekhyun but you can't look after such a- such thing-"

"You said it yourself, Chanyeol, that there's good left in everyone," Baekhyun barks out, for every step Chanyeol takes closer, he vows to take ten more if it means protecting those who need to be protected. "Seulgi responded to me. She heard my voice and she came out of that bloody trance or possession or whatever the fuck that was- There's good left in her, Chanyeol. We can't give up on her. I won't give up on her."

"Baekhyun that was before-"

"Before what?" the Captain challenges, sanity held together by a thin thread that he fears Chanyeol will cut with his next few words. He tries to hold back the tears forming in his eyes, the trembling of his hands and lips as he spits out the next accusation. "Before you realised there was no good left in me?"

The room is quiet, the atmosphere like a storm, the tension between them like lightning and yet Baekhyun seems to fall apart before Chanyeol even says anything at all. The taller's face softens and he takes a weary step back, shaking his head.

"No, Baekhyun," he sighs out like he's tired - tired of Baekhyun and the mess that he is - "it was before I realised I almost lost you." Baekhyun is left clenching his jaw to hold back the gasp that threatens to spill from his throat, balling his fists tight enough to leave angry red crescent marks against his palms as Chanyeol swiftly leaves the room, having had enough drama for one night. The Captain watches his figure fade with distance but is not permitted to dwell on the bitterness searing his insides for too long since Kyungsoo is quick to cut in and save the situation.

"What's the plan next, Captain?" he asks. Baekhyun really wishes he knew.

Running tired fingers over his face, he lets out a harrowing sigh. His eyebrows furrow inwards together. He knows there's really only one option, one many of his crew will be opposed to. "This problem started on Earth, so I'm going back to Earth to fix it." There, now that he's said it out loud, it's final. No one can change his mind.

"Alone?" Kris pipes up, a look shining within his eyes that Baekhyun wants to run from. He wants to come with him. He wants to let Baekhyun lead him to death and destruction. He actually wants to-

"Yes alone," Baekhyun says as clearly and firmly as he can for he fears Kris will never get it otherwise. "I can't keep dragging you all into my problems. My quest for Captain Park was enough."

He doesn't even know why he bothers. It's quite obvious that the tall blonde, who looks unabashedly unconvinced, doesn't get it.

Kris gets up, pushing himself up onto wobbly feet - he'd been swiped at by Seulgi. "I don't think so, Captain. You've got a lot more on your hands than you've ever had before and I don't think I'd be a very good, loyal crew member if let you fight all your battles alone." And to strengthen his own case, Kris gives him that look he's been giving him for years when he's decided on something and has chosen to be stubborn about it. It's a look of determination that mirrors the Captain's own. It's why they'd always made such a good team.

"I'm coming with you," he announces. Firm and final.

"Kris-"

Kris, along with Luhan and Junmyeon were a part of Kyungsoo and Baekhyun's original crew. They liked to call themselves the remaining survivors; the originals. The taller male had been in his early 20s back then, filled with wanderlust, thirsting for adventure but he's gotten too old for it all now. Baekhyun can see he's not as excited when they dock on new planets, has noticed how he keeps whining for vacations these days. He's tired of it all. But he still wants to come along with him. Not for the thrill, but for Baekhyun. And he's not the only one who feels that way.

"Me too," Junmyeon and Luhan chorus at the same time. The remainder of the original gang. Baekhyun is rendered speechless when Jongdae splutters and announces he's joining too, if only out of sheer jealousy that has a wave of chuckles passing around the room. Baekhyun allows a little smile to tug at the sides of his own lips.

After that, a chorus of "me toos" and "count me in" rings through the air while several men take turns to stand on their feet and look to their Captain with beautiful loyalty and love shining in their eyes. Baekhyun can't bear to reject them. Can't bear to take up such a daunting task alone, without his trusted men. Some stay seated, however, eyes fallen to the ground in defeat with their lips sealed shut. Baekhyun smiles anyway. They don't need to come. They have a choice. This is a choice. And Baekhyun will still be thankful to his men whether they continue on their journey with him or not.

He chances a glance over to the right, past his shoulder to catch Kyungsoo worrying his lower lip between his teeth, deep in contemplation. Baekhyun would be lying if the man's uncertainty didn't make his stomach drop but he shoves the sight out of his mind quickly. Kyungsoo is free to make his own choice too. Of all people, Kyungsoo deserves it.

Widening his smile and fighting back tears in his eyes, Baekhyun looks to his crew, a silent cry of 'we are one' ringing through his mind as he scans each determined face. He has a mission and he has a crew. He supposes Kyungsoo, no matter what his decision is in the end, won't mind too much if he retracts his promise of handing the Exodus over to him. For such a quest, he's going to need a trusty ship too.

"Ok," he whispers, stifling back a sob. "Thank you."

//

The Technos sky glitters a pale purple, without a single cloud in sight, when the ship docks the next morning. Baekhyun spends the majority of the day, bidding farewell to those of his crew that he was leaving behind, wishing them well and making them promise to keep him updated on their new lives. Many were planning to settle down, having had enough adventure for one lifetime and Baekhyun sincerely hopes they all keep out of trouble. He'd arranged for the bodies of the men from yesterday night's ordeal to be sent home to their families with a small pouch of gold coins attached in a form of compensation that doesn't properly convey how truly sorry Baekhyun really is for their loss, but there is little else he can say or do in such a situation.

The hardest goodbye had been with Kyungsoo, who'd left early that morning, rucksack in hand and the image of Baekhyun holding back tears fresh in his mind. He'd laughed it off then, told Baekhyun to stop being so dramatic and that he could always come stay with him and Jongin whenever he was back in town but Baekhyun knew he was taking it as hard as he was and only when he'd turned his back, heading to catch the first train into the capital did the Technician let his own tears fall.

The easiest hello, it seems, was also Kyungsoo, who'd bolted back onto the ship just past noon, smiling like a maniac with Jongin - who carried a rucksack of his own - hot on his heels. "You see," he'd said ever so nonchalantly, "I just didn't feel good about the thought of you dying somewhere without me knowing about it."

Baekhyun had threatened to chop his most sacred regions off with his sword as he raged about the "unnecessary rollercoaster of feelings!" Kyungsoo had sent him on whilst tears once again flooded his eyes but he'd embraced his friend nevertheless, glad to have him onboard. Relieved, in fact.

Jongin - who had smiled and told Baekhyun he'd missed him once he'd calmed down - had also revealed the true reason as to why they were aboard the Exodus once more. "I could tell Kyungsoo didn't want to leave you," the gentle Veni had said, "he only did it because of his promise to me and we both know how he is with his promises. I figured Technos is not really home for me so if Kyungsoo wanted to go, I'd go with him." And then Baekhyun had cried once again and tackled both his friends into another hug.

All in all, it was an emotional day.

Baekhyun walks now to the exit of the Exodus just as the twin suns are beginning to fade from the sky in a flurry of pinks and oranges. The ramp leading to the ground had been retracted, seeing as how everyone who was leaving had already left and he's heading to shut the entrance door, opting to do it manually for he wanted to take in one final glimpse of the planet that he'd almost managed to call home before he goes back to his real one; the sea.

When he gets there, however, his feet turn leaden. He is frozen in his place, forced to take in the sight of a red headed figure who sits at the door of the aircraft, feet dangling out into the night sky.

Oh. That's right. Everyone who was leaving had already left, those who'd decided to stay were already settled in and ready for their next mission, leaving just one person unaccounted for.

Chanyeol is ever beautiful against the sunset backdrop yet his features look so sad, so distant as he drinks in the landscape before him.

Distance, Baekhyun notes bitterly. That's the thing that's between them. Large enough to span an entire galaxy.

Gathering up his courage, Baekhyun forces himself to take tentative steps closer to the taller male, closing the distance between them little by little. He must have heard him coming for when Baekhyun is near enough, he shifts to the left wordlessly, leaving a gap for him to sit at his side.

As if the thought of facing him didn't leave his hands shaking and fingertips prickling, Baekhyun settles himself next to Chanyeol and tries to ignore the thought of how easy it could be for both of them to fall to their deaths from this height. That, and how painfully awkward it feels to be so close to the man he'd once shared most of his soul with. He pushes all thoughts out his head and opts to look out at the sky instead. Forwards.

"What's your next move?" he asks quietly in case his voice should quiver, trying to sound as conversational as possible, like the answer wouldn't make or break him. He's still here. That means he's not leaving yet.

There's a beat of silence that passes between the two of them. As if Chanyeol were contemplating whether replying to Baekhyun were even worth wasting his breath over.

He seems to decide that it is.

"I don't know," Chanyeol replies, voice low and gravelly and unforgivingly lacking any real emotion. He, like Baekhyun, has his eyes fixed on the horizon of purple instead of on the other male and releases a wistful sigh into the air. "I was thinking about going back to Earth. There's not much for me back there but maybe I could rebuild a new life for myself."

At his words, liquid panic begins to flood through Baekhyun's system. His heart races. His palms sweat. His world threatens to collapse.

It sounds too much like a goodbye.

He can't risk another one.

His brain seems to forgo the original plan of acting casual and the words are soon leaving his mouth before he can even register them. They form the purest, most unfiltered sentence he's ever articulated, simplified down from the million and one other thoughts that whizz around in his head, all begging to be spoken. They all essentially say the same thing.

"Stay with me."

Chanyeol shifts to look at him blankly, almost confused, as if he wants Baekhyun to expand further. Convince him. Beg for him. Baekhyun's just glad he's looking at him at all.

"I - uh - I mean - Come with me? And the rest of the crew-" Growing redder by the second, he licks his lips in a show of nervousness - not catching how Chanyeol's eyes instinctively follow the movement - and prepares himself to swallow his pride when he meets the taller's eyes; so dark and so, so beautiful. "Please?"

If anything, Chanyeol and Baekhyun's relationship is like a wad of gum stuck to the bottom of a shoe. Sticking is easy. But when you try to pull it off - when either one of them tries to pull back - there is still a part of them that sticks and resists, that stays though another part of them might not want to. It's not the most elegant analogy, but Baekhyun thinks it's quite befitting.

"But I get seasick," Chanyeol blinks at him. Pink sun rays dance beautifully off his skin but Baekhyun can only notice his eyes that betray no thoughts or feelings and don't shine as brightly like they usually do. Or at least, like they used to. His eyelashes flutter rapidly. This is all his fault. 

"Kyungsoo can get you some pills," Baekhyun offers, forcing the corners of his lips upwards in what must look like an utterly pained smile; too tight at the edges and seconds from falling apart. Chanyeol's eyes flicker downwards momentarily before they're locking onto Baekhyun's again. Unchanged. The shorter's smile falters visibly.

Baekhyun feels like he's reaching out, trying to hold onto something that's not there anymore.

"But I'm not a pirate," is Chanyeol's weak defence.

Baekhyun waits for a small grin, for anything to make it seem like he's not being helplessly rejected, like Chanyeol isn't giving him lame excuses as to why he can't stay with him just to mask the fact that he doesn't want to. But he doesn't. And he is.

"We're not going to do any pirating if it's not necessary." The words sound so desperate and taste utterly stale on his tongue. Baekhyun squirms a little before he sighs and gives it all up, knows he's fighting a losing battle so just throws his heart away along with all the other causalities. He decides to stop being a fool and scrambles up onto his feet.

What was I expecting?

"You know what forget it - I just wish you well in your future endeavours. It was nice, uh, knowing you-"

Just as Baekhyun makes a move to turn around, to leave the man he'd broken with the image of him blabbering and foolishly hoping that he could take him back - only to retreat, embarrassed and deflated - warm fingers wrap around his wrist. It's a loose grip and the small tug Chanyeol gives it is feeble, half-hearted at best, but Baekhyun still feels a shudder of relief ripple through his entire body. Without missing another beat, he falls to his knees in front of Chanyeol, eyes watery as they search deep into his.

"But I'm in love with you," Chanyeol whispers. It's not a dramatic confession, it's spoken softly, would barely be audible if Baekhyun weren't hanging off of every word he says. He's not smiling like Baekhyun had wanted him to. He's looking utterly lost and hopeless and deflated because he's in love with this man that will do nothing but ruin him and yet he can't help himself from wanting to stay with him regardless. Baekhyun won't admit that it stings - even though it does - because he'll take what he can get. Chanyeol isn't smiling but his eyes that roam across Baekhyun's features like he's something special to behold shine with forlorn sincerity and that's all it really takes for Baekhyun's pulse to start thundering beneath his skin like an unraveling storm.

Soft fingertips trace over the bumps of burning blisters situated on the back of Chanyeol's neck - a soft, healing touch - before skimming up to stroke his jaw ever so lightly, ever so lovingly. "Good," is all Baekhyun can think to mumble out, too lost in a pair of brown orbs for thought. He's crying, he knows, he can feel the wetness on his cheeks, he can see the way Chanyeol tracks their paths tenderly with his eyes. But he doesn't wipe them away. He wants Baekhyun to be as raw and open as he is right now. Lord knows he won't be able to give this - them - another shot if they're not going try and make it work as equals.

He's beautiful like this, Chanyeol thinks, without his chains, crying, pure and perfect just for me. Broken just like me.

"Good," Baekhyun repeats in a half sob-half chuckle, his breathless and shaky exhales ghosting hotly over Chanyeol's waiting lips. "Because I am too."

Chanyeol's eyes widen ever so slightly before Baekhyun is surging down to capture his lips with his. He tastes salt on his tongue but he relishes in it, closes his eyes and loses himself in the way Baekhyun can break him apart and put him back together so easily, with just a single touch, with just a single sentence.

Baekhyun kisses Chanyeol like he's something fragile, pressing their lips together in a soft, warm caress before pulling away, savouring the mingle of their synchronised breaths and then going back in for more, repeating the process all over again. Chanyeol lets him take it at his own pace, just like he always has, giving him full control over him, over them while he, in turn, tries to fit against him, accommodate his every move and keep up with him.

Baekhyun knows it isn't all better yet, that a single kiss and sweet moment isn't going to mend all the bullet holes. But it will be better. He'll be better. He'll change, he'll make things right. Them. Seulgi. Everything.


End file.
